Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Harry Potter and all other series characters are the property of J.K. Rowling (Goddess Esquire), and are not my intellectual property. There is no financial gain made from this nor will any be sought. This is for entertainment purposes only.

Title: The Lightning Strike

Category: Harry Potter

Pairing: BWHG

Genre: Drama/Romance

Rating: M (Language, Suicidal Allusions, Sexual Situations)

Summary: After the war, demiwolf Bill Weasley, struggling to come to terms with the loss of his beloved wife, gets an unexpected visitor at his doorstep during the full moon who had no choice but to turn to him as her only ally. BWHG

The Lightning Strike: Chapter XIV

Bill woke up mid-day to Hermione invading all of his senses. He stretched out his neck feeling the stiffness relieve slightly at the change of position. Her scent surrounded him as his fingers traced the soft skin of her body spooned close to his. He still had the metallic taste of her blood on his tongue as his eyes opened up to the curly mass of hair on his pillow. Bill's hand dipped lower as he began to lightly knead her arse. "Don't you dare," Hermione muttered as she awoke. "I'm so sore from last night." Bill chuckled as the memories of their relentless wolves controlling their bodies until the sun came up flooded his thoughts.

He smirked with a smug satisfaction knowing that he was the reason for her soreness. He kissed the top of her head before he brushed her hair out of the way, intending to continue his path downwards, but stopped at the sight of the angry red bite on her collarbone. Bill lightly traced the fresh mark his fingertip causing Hermione to wince slightly. He immediately drew back his hand and looked over at her in concern. "It's fine," Hermione reassured him as she turned to face him. "It's just a little tender."

Nodding, Bill cupped her jaw as he looked at her natural brown eyes. "Hi," he whispered.

"Hi," she repeated with a smirk. Her gaze drifted up and her eye's widened as her face transformed into shock. "There's blood all over the sheets," she informed him before bursting into laughter.

Bill turned to check and saw that she was absolutely right. His light blue sheets were covered sporadically everywhere in dried rust colored blood stains. His laughter joined hers for a long moment as they laid there, in the glow of a new day, surrounded in their own bubble and the warmth each other. They gazed lazily at each other as Hermione felt Bill's fingertips trace along her back. "So what now?" Hermione sighed.

"Well I wouldn't say no to repeating last night," he teased with a flourish of his eyebrow.

Hermione rolled her eyes before her face turned grave for a second. "I should tell you something."

"Anything," he assured her.

After a deep breath Hermione confided in Bill. "I slept with someone while you were gone." He licked his lips in thought but didn't respond. "Look it really wasn't anything. I just ran into someone from Hogwarts at the bar. I was drunk and sad that you just disappear on me and I don't know . . . his scent vaguely smelled like yours."

"Would I know who it was?" Bill wondered.

Hermione shrugged. "Would it matter?"

"Probably not," Bill agreed. "But I'd still like to know."

"Dean Thomas."

He nodded in thought. Bill knew that name from when Ginny dated him back at Hogwarts but didn't know much about the guy at all. A part of him felt jealous at this information, but he couldn't blame her. He understood the loneliness she went through. He knew the desperate lengths anyone would go to in hopes of not feeling alone, even if it was just for a night.

"Was last night your first time since Fleur?" Her voice was small as she asked.

Bill simply shook his head. "One here in England a few months after she died. Nora Lacey. She was a Ravenclaw I knew at Hogwarts that I ran into one night. I was just trying to catapult myself into moving on but that didn't work. Then there was another girl in Peru when I first got there named Alessandra. But that was only for a couple of weeks. Another distraction." Hermione nodded in understanding but seemed disheartened at the information. She understood what he was telling her, but it didn't make it easier to accept.

"Hey." Bill cradled her face within his hands. "It wasn't only Fleur that I needed the distraction from anymore. I actually think. . . I think I'm in a good place with her right now. I did a lot of thinking in the mountains." He paused for a breath as he tried to figure out the right words. "I think I've loved you for awhile now. I'm sorry it took so long for me to catch up, Little Demi."

Hermione didn't speak but Bill felt a cold tear fall onto his hand. He just wiped it off her face before placing kisses on both of her cheeks. "You're the only possible ally I could want," Hermione confided. "I love you."

Bill brought his lips to her in a tender moment. Just reveling in their newly exposed emotion. "Come to Peru with me," he muttered once his lips left hers.

"What?" Hermione pulled back to look at him.

"Come to Peru. You would love it. New curse breaker opportunities are popping up all over, so we don't have to stay there if you don't like it. We can travel the world, experience so many things."

She looked at him in disbelief as she processed through his words. "I . . . I have a job here. I can't just move."

"You hate your job! You told me yourself at Christmas," defended Bill. "You can study and write about magical culture and creatures from all around the world. You can write about all the adventures we'll have together. There wouldn't be much money in it at first, if at all, but that doesn't matter. Don't you want to do something for a living that you'd actually enjoy?"

Hermione stayed silent as she debated internally with herself making Bill nervous. "Look," he said, "I'll take a desk job again and move back here if that's what you want. I just don't think I can be separated from you again . . . especially now."

In response, Hermione lean over and placed a light kiss onto the bounding mark upon his neck. "I'll go to Peru," she told him confidently.

His face lit up with a smile as he began to ravish her face with playful affection causing her to laugh. "Just a few days ago, we had to actively defend that we weren't sleeping together to the family," Hermione pointed out. "Now I'm going back with you to Peru."

Bill considered her words with an amused smile on his own face as he thought about how they could tell his family. "Maybe we should just send a postcard back to everyone once we're there." Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "Okay, maybe not. But don't worry about it. We'll figure it out." Bill tenderly touched his forehead with hers. "We'll figure this out."

Hermione nodded in agreement as she looked into Bill's naturally blue eyes as saw all of the trust and promise in the world staring back at her. After last night, he didn't even feel like a separate person from her anymore. They truly felt like two different halves of one whole being now. She knew that what he was saying was true. A smirk grew on her face as she felt the contentment run through her. "You truly do have a burn mark on your arse," she commented as she thought about the small detail she noticed last night.

"I told you I did," he defended as he turned slightly to show it to her again. "Tell me. Does it look like anything to you? Because Fleur would say that it looked like a sneakoscope. I always said that it looked more like a time turner."

Hermione smiled at the ease with which Bill just mentioned his late wife. He was truly a different person now, ready to final move on. "You're both wrong. It's obviously the sorting hat."

Author's Note: Thank you to cynmonstrosity, siriusbarks, and to all of the readers of this story!

Tomorrow is the last chapter!

Felix Felicis With A Twist