I know I suck. I'm sorry. This chapter's a little short, but it just made sense to stop it there and I should have the next one up either later tonight or tomorrow as a thank you to all of my readers for not having me tarred and feathered for making you wait so long.

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Bill awoke Monday morning feeling more content than he could ever remember waking. He was not a morning person, usually only waking with enough time to shower and clothe himself before having to be out the door, but this morning he was awake an hour and a half before he had to leave. Contemplating what to do with his extra time, he tensed when he heard a soft muffled snore coming from his floor. He edged his way to the side of the bed and peered over to find the most adorable sight he'd ever seen.

On the floor was his Hermione with her quilt tangled around her legs, but wrapped so that it still covered her arms. Her pillow was half covering the top half of her face so that the only parts of her that he could see were the ends of her mess of brown curls, her left foot, and the space from her perfectly shaped upper lip to the tops of her shoulders. After the initial melting of his heart, Bill couldn't help but be angry with her for sleeping on the floor. There were two perfectly good beds, a couch, a love-seat, and a reclining armchair in the flat and she felt the need to, sometime in the night, relocate herself to the floor? Couple that with the number of books she would be carrying around now that she was commuting and she would have to see a healer for her back before the year was up. What was she thinking?! Or was she thinking at all? Thankfully the logical side of his brain stopped him at this point.

Why was she on his bedroom floor? Maybe her bed wasn't comfortable. Maybe noises had scared her. Maybe he should just wake her up and ask her.But be nice! he warned himself. After last night she does not need you to become a cave man every time she does something that may cause her discomfort!

Kneeling down beside her and removing the pillow from her beautiful, though slightly drool dampened face, he brushed a kiss to her forehead on the way to whispering in her ear, "Hermione. Hermione, sweetheart, wake up."

"Bill?" she asked, in a sleepy, distorted voice.

"I'm right here, love. I don't know what time you have to be awake for school, but it's 7:10 now."

"7:10? Why didn't my alarm go off?"

"Well, it may have, but seeing as you're on the floor of the master bedroom there's no way you would have heard it," he said with a chuckle.

"What am I doing on your floor?" she asked, obviously not fully awake yet.

"That was my next question. What are you doing on the floor, sweetheart?" He knew he'd failed at masking the concern in his voice.

She looked confused for a few moments before her eyes started to tear up. "Oh, Bill, I'm so sorry! I'm so stupid! I didn't even think before I'd stormed out on you and then, while you were sleeping, you were making this horrible, pained cry every time I left your room! I couldn't just leave you in so much pain! I'm sorry. I'll leave you to your privacy, I didn't mean to intrude."

"The noise stopped?" he asked, grabbing her shoulders so she couldn't leave him just yet.

"What?" Hermione was confused, but he asked again.

"When you came into the room, the whining noise stopped?"

"Yes."

"Hermione, I've been making that noise in my sleep ever since Fenrir attacked me. It drove Fleur mad and not even Remus could tell me what it was, but now my educated guess would be that, seeing as I saw you the night of my attack, my wolf has always known you as his mate and craved your presence. The wolf just isn't prevalent enough in me for me to have recognized you consciously. As for the other bit? Your 'I'll leave you to your privacy'? You are never intruding in this flat. I was just concerned as to why you're on the floor. If you wanted to sleep in here I would have gladly taken the floor, or, if you hadn't wanted to wake me, you could've just crawled in. I respect you enough to never try molesting you in your sleep," he teased. Leave it to his Hermione to make up a problem and place the blame on herself.

"Oh. Thanks, but I really don't mind the floo-- Shit! I'm going to be late!" And before he knew what hit him she'd gathered her bedding in her arms and disappeared.

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Hermione contemplated skipping breakfast as she'd slept too late to make anything substantial, but after last night decided on tea and toast as she picked up her bag and left her bedroom.

"Oh, good. I was starting to get worried that you wouldn't have time to eat and I'd have to turn your breakfast into a sandwich to send you off with," Bill said from behind the newspaper. On the table were two plates of scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast, and two cups of tea.

"It looks delicious, thank you," she said, sitting down and leafing through the untouched sections of the paper.

"Are you busy this evening?"

"Not that I know of, why?"

"Percy, Charlie, and I were hoping to have dinner and get to know you a little better this evening. If you're okay with it." Something about his tone made her feel like he wasn't being entirely forthright, but she decided not to make a big deal of it. They may not know each other very well, but she already knew that he wouldn't, nor would he let anyone else, do anything to hurt her if he could help it.

"Okay. I have to drop a few books by the library after lessons, but I'll be home after that. Did you need me to do anything?"

"Not a thing, love, just do your homework because I don't know how long tonight will take. I wouldn't want you to fall behind. Heaven forbid you be less than a month ahead of the professors," he smirked. Unlike when Harry and Ron made fun of her study habits, this felt entirely innocent. Not a trace of contempt at all, just a light-hearted jab at her being overly prepared. It was nice.

"Merlin help us if you actually let me cook a meal in our home," she teased back, rising from her chair as he did the same.

"Oh I will," he said, his gaze getting darker, "but the first time you cook a meal in this home will be for the two of us." There was something predatory in his voice that sent shivers down her spine in a very pleasant way. "I don't like the idea of my brothers experiencing your labors before I have."

Bill picked up her bag and performed some sort of spell on it before pulling her close of a soft, sweet kiss, full of emotions she could not yet place. Leaning into her ear he softly said, "Have a good day at school, pet," momentarily making her forget what she was doing.

"What did you do to my bag?" she asked, once she'd given herself a good mental shake. Why does he keep doing that to me?!

"Just a weight removal spell to make it easier on your undoubtedly sore back. Don't worry, I would never harm a book. You've seen my library. Now go learn something."

She took her bag and turned on the spot to appear the aparation point at Hogwarts front gates.

"Hermione!" she heard from behind her.

"Neville! Excellent timing, we can walk together," she said, pleased that she didn't have to make the ten minute trek alone.

"So you came to my house last night," he pointed out.

"Yes. I'm sorry. I'd gotten into a bit of a row with Bill and needed someone to talk to. I didn't even think about Shell Cottage being Fleur's until I got there and then she was being so nice and logical about it. Sorry I didn't stay to explain," she finished when she realized she'd been rambling.

"It's fine, Fleur explained. Not how I'd planned on telling you who my soul mate was, but effective. I just wanted to let you know that you're welcome anytime. Fleur says so too. She doesn't have many friends outside of France so she likes the idea of having a woman to talk to and she's always liked you. You worked it all out, I take it?"

"Yes. Fleur's advice was really useful. Maybe, once we're married, we could all have dinner together. Would that be odd?" she sounded hopeful even to her own ears.

"Yeah, it'd be odd, but what about our lives hasn't been?"

The rest of the walk was spent making small talk about their respective first dates and new living situations. They were both a little apprehensive about the future, but overall content. It helped having someone in the same situation.