(A/N)

Finally finished! I wanted to get this done, but I just sort of lacked inspiration for a couple of days. I also don't have any pre-planned stuff anymore, and I'm incredibly busy for the next few weeks, so updates are probably going to be even slower for some time.

Anyway, I hope you like the date. It's all very innocent and friendly now, but I wanted to wait with the true romance blablabla until the Yule ball, so bear with me.

And yeah, I previously mentioned that I didn't want Bill to find out about the mysterious consultant from Gringotts before the summer, but I decided that I didn't want the two of them to have secrets between them, and this seemed funny. Poor Bill, I hope he doesn't have a concussion from all the head damage I made him suffer!

Now, to my wonderful reviewers: Flyingberry, Feminist4ever, Sampdoria, Pjgarlach, Rosemary Lily Marie and Angel897, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I know indeed that I mix up 'through' and 'trough' sometimes, that's because the spelling check doesn't notice that it's wrong. I'll try to pay attention though, thanks for the warning!

And I also remember some other stories where champions' names were entered through the air, including one rather funny one where a RC helicopter was used. It's so obvious, I can't imagine nobody thought of it.

Now, disclaimer, don't own Harry Potter, blablabla…

Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 14 – Oddest Proposal Ever

Quarter past twelve that Saturday, Hermione cursed the fact that your feet still leave footprints when you walk through snow whilst disillusioned. Ginny had been very curious about Hermione's lunch appointment, and Hermione hadn't felt like telling the redhead that it was with her eldest brother. Bad decision apparently, for now the girl had decided to follow Hermione as she made her way to the Three Broomsticks.

"I know loads of spells. Hundreds of them.", she thought as she walked, "But why in the name of Merlin's kinky underwear did I never bother to learn one that removes footprints?"

She dodged into a less crowded road in fear of being knocked over, ran past two blocks of houses, ran halfway back and then left through a side-alley. She hid in a second-hand bookstore for five minutes, checking through the window if Ginny was still on her tail, and then went to the pub that was her actual destination. She entered through the back door just for good measure, and only lifted her disillusionment charm once she reached the front door, where Bill already stood waiting.

Bill was evidently under the impression that she'd use the front door, and probably planned to startle her.

"Hah, I can do one better than that!", Hermione thought as she sneaked up on him and stood on tiptoes behind him to whisper in his ear.

"Ahoy me matey.", she said in a threatening pirate voice. Bill jumped, startled indeed, and bumped his head hard on the protruding cross-beam above the door.

"Arrr, captain.", he answered, smiling at her with slightly watery eyes. He was confused when he noticed Hermione frown at that for a moment.

"Hey, what are you frowning for, I'm the one that knocked his head!", he grumbled.

"Nah, nothing about that, it's just this stupid nickname that Harry insists on calling me…"

"He calls you 'Captain'?", Bill asked curiously, but Hermione shook her head, but didn't tell him the real nickname, as he would then figure out that she worked for Gringotts, and she didn't want to divulge that particular piece of information just yet.

"No, but it doesn't matter anyway. Now how have you been? Glad to be back in England at last?", she asked Bill, trying to divert him.

"Sure.", he answered, pretending to buy into it. "I miss the nice weather, but I'm happy to be rid of all the sand, and they have me working with this absolutely brilliant new consultant which has been great." He stopped for a second before adding nonchalantly: "Now what was that nickname that Harry calls you again?"

"Oh, he calls me 'Captain Scuttles'.", Hermione answered, succesfully distracted. "Honestly, like just 'Scuttles' wasn't bad enough already!"

CRACK! Was the sound which Bill's head made as it connected with the crossbeam once again.

"Oy there! Stop molesting the premises!", madam Rosmerta yelled towards the couple from where she stood at the bar, shaking her fist at them but secretly smiling. Poppy, Pomona and Minerva had introduced her to the B.A.H.-Union when they stopped by for a drink yesterday.

"Anything to get him to come here more often!", the woman thought, remembering him clearly from his schooldays when the female half of the alliteration-loving wizarding world had called him the Hogwarts' Handsome Headboy. Yes, they definitely didn't make headboys like that anymore, just think of last year's one, Bill's brother Percy Weasley. Nice enough lad that one was, but he had neither his brother's good looks, nor that subtle charisma.

Throughout the years, Rosmerta had had many Weasleys in her humble establishment. She remembered Arthur from when he was still in school and she was just a little girl, helping her mother at the bar during the Hogsmeade weekends. She knew Molly from when she was still a Prewitt, a Gryffindor in the year below Arthur who always hung out with her twin brothers Fabian and Gideon. The couple eloped straight out of school, and had a son seven and a half month later that was quite obviously too big to be premature. William, named after his grandfather Prewitt in an effort to placate the upset man, would soon be joined by no less than six siblings.

Rosmerta had always considered Bill the best in the bunch. His little sister was a close second, she was very much like him at that age, but she had unfortunately inherited her mother's infamous temper too. Charlie was very friendly and really amusing once you fed him enough butterbeer, but on the whole more of a 'strong but silent' type, a good man, but not one of a kind. The aforementioned Percy had always been a little quirky, with his rather pompous attitude. Once he reached his fifth year though, when he became a prefect, and Hermione founded the study groups, he found a positive outlet for his ambitious nature and changed for the better. The twins were a bit careless and loud, but compensated by being kind, helpful and bloody hilarious. Ronald however had always been a lost cause. Rosmerta had always seen this, and considered it confirmed when his Hogsmeade privilege was retracted some days previously. Rumor had it that the prat had actually tried to rape a girl. Well, at least his brothers were nothing like that, especially the eldest. That one looked a damn lot better than the foodstain-covered dolt.

Bill Weasley had been a handsome teenager, but he had grown into a stunning man. Tall but lean, muscled without being burly. His smooth skin pale despite continuous exposure to the Egyptian sun, covered with light freckles in the general area of his nose, and with ginger stubble on his chin. His long hair, fang earring and leather clothes gave him a roguish appearance, yet his excellent manners made him seem civilized. He was a special young man that deserved a special young lady, and he appeared to have found this in Hermione Granger, who currently tended to his injured head.

"I should take a photo.", she thought as she saw Hermione gently stroking the sore spot on Bill's head, where he'd bumped it. "And it surely wouldn't be to salivate over at a later date.", she added mentally. "No, all to, erm, contribute to the cause.", she assured herself once more. She hoped Ginny or one of the other Union members that resided in Hogwarts would stop by this afternoon, they had much too discuss. Much to discuss and much more to guess apparently, for the couple didn't sit down in the pub where she could overhear them, but left the building to an undetermined location.

Rosmerta was quite disgruntled to lose her chance to spy, but smiled as she noticed a bag on the man's arm, obviously filled with food. A private picnic beats a rendez-vous in a pub any day.

"Yeah, it isn't much of a picnic basket.", Bill admitted ten minutes later as they sat down on a bench ten minutes later, looking at the simple cotton grocery bag that he had brought. "I didn't want to look to obvious though, and at least the food is good. Freshly stolen from mum's kitchen!"

Hermione smiled at his antics. It was such a manly thing to do, to get your mother to give you food for a date.

"She really won't miss it. She bakes a lot when she has stuff on her mind, like now." Bill could have slapped himself for that thoughtless reference to the Ron situation. He pretty much wanted to crucio himself as he saw Hermione's smile disappear. In fact, he was pretty sure that his sister would do a crucio on him if he told her this, Ginny had been pestering him a lot lately with rather odd letters.

Luckily for Bill, Hermione decided to tactfully change the subject.

"So, why did you decide to smash your head into the woodwork that second time?", she asked him.

"The nickname.", he answered, a maniacal glint appearing in his eyes. Hermione had apparently forgotten about that, for otherwise she wouldn't have reminded him. Now however, she looked quite mortified.

"Oh…", she murmured. Bill just snickered.

"How eloquent. You know, I recently got a new colleague. She's really mysterious, no one's ever seen her. She only communicates with the office through owl post, nevertheless she's absolutely brilliant. She actually reminds me a lot of you. The weirdest thing is, she goes by the nickname 'Ms. Scuttles'. Quite the coincidence, don't you think?"

"Just shut your mouth, will you. Yes, you figured it out Mr. Gingerwing, are you happy now?", Hermione demanded, crossing her arms.

"Hey, no need to get all grumpy!", Bill huffed. "I won't tell anyone else. And for the record, I think it's one hell of a prank that we've been corresponding for weeks but that I find out only now. The twins could learn a thing or two from you."

"They already do.", Hermione retorted with a smile of her own. "Honestly, who do you think helped them figure out all those things for their soon-to-be-jokeshop, like pricelists and the owl order service? For all their pranking talent, those two are seriously lacking organizational skills."

Bill shook his head, amused. "Don't let mum hear you say that!"

"Fred and George were meant to run a jokeshop. Your mother will realize that once their business is going strong. I know it will succeed, I've seen the entire plan. They'll be developing products as long as they're at Hogwarts, then run everything via mail for a year or two to gain funds and a reputation, and when they can afford it they'll get premises."

"Wow, such a well thought-out plan doesn't sound like them at al. It almost sounds easy this way!" Bill was clearly impressed.

"Well, I did say I helped them.", Hermione said, blushing bright red.

"So humble!", Bill smirked, stuffed a piece of cake into her mouth and slung one of his long arms around her shoulders.

Their conversation carried on very naturally. It was almost as if they were at the Burrow again, chatting over breakfast during those long gone summer days. Even Molly's homemade bread tasted the same when eaten here. It was no summer however, it was December and bitter cold. Before leading Hermione there, Bill had set up warming wards and privacy wards around the little park bench which they now shared. Hermione still considered it necessary though, to lean into Bill's side just a little bit more. In his turn, Bill thought it was much more comfortable to just hoist her into his lap altogether, which he happily did.

All in all, their very red faces alone probably radiated warmth enough to render the warming ward unnecessary. The privacy wards came in handy though, for about halfway through their lunch, Victor Krum appeared with a gaggle of giggling girls.

"Ruddy pumpkinhead.", Hermione commented, glaring at Krum as he passed their bench, oblivious to them.

"You still have world-famous quidditch players after you then?", Bill asked, noticing the burly Bulgarian.

"If you mean Krum, then yes. I swear, the guy gets more pervy every day. He's almost as bad as Cho Chang, and that girl really is a menace."

Bill looked faintly green as she said that. "You… You got female groupies too?"

"Oh no! Cho is all Cedric's. Fangirl, I mean. My groupies are all of the opposite gender. Cedric is not so lucky, I fear, he has a lot of quidditch idiots after him, because of the tight pants that go with quidditch gear apparently.", Hermione paused at seeing Bill's disturbed gaze. "Not that I ever spared those a second thought, I was quoting his fanmail there. We like to read our fanmail together, because it's so utterly laughable." She paused again, gathered her courage. "Ceddy and I are going to the ball together, present an united front against our stalkers and all that."

Bill flinched at the endearment. "That sounds like the typical adolescent 'we fancy each other but are still in denial so we think up a lame excuse' sort of excuse.", he remarked, dreading the possible replies.

Of all that he expected however, Hermione's actual reaction was not it. She laughed, hard.

"Oh, William! You don't know what sort of rumors I've been hearing. Blaise and Daphne reported that half the Slytherins are quite convinced that I regularly organize threesomes with Malfoy and Krum, and some 'Claws from the first year study group 'know' with absolute certainty that I have a secret fetish for professor Snape."

"Fascinating as your apparently quite diverse fictional lovelife is, I wonder what this has to do with Diggory?", Bill was getting curious now.

"Oh, yeah. Those I mentioned are pretty weird rumors, but honestly, I'd rank this one above them."

"You aren't really after Snape, are you?", Bill decided to verify, just to be sure.

"NO! William Weasley, what in the world are you thinking! About Cedric too, he is just too much like a brother to me. The very idea of fancying him feels like incest to me."

"Oh.", Bill stated dumbly. "Well, that's good to hear.

They were interrupted then, for their rather heated discussion had made them walk beyond the privacy wards, and Krum had spotted them. The champion immediately tried to pounce on Hermione, but Bill hexed him off her and pulled the girl back within the wards.

Hermione clung on to him tightly for a moment, shaking badly, but then she got mad.

"Ugh, those BLOODY IDIOTS! The Ronald affair should have taught them to behave, but no, they're bothering me like nothing ever happened. Never thought I'd even consider this option, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I should get a ring on my finger, for if I'm considered the property of another man, then it's my legal right to have those idiots beheaded. Perhaps that'll make them think twice about trying to force themselves on me!", Hermione ranted. Bill just stared up at her in awe. Never having seen her truly mad before, he was struck by how spectacular a sight it made.

"How on earth am I going to get my hands on an engagement ring though? No, no engagement ring, an engagement has to be registered, they'd know it's a fluke in moments. A promise ring then. Those are used in the wizarding world to signify a betrothal, for which the same rules count as for an engagement or marriage in the regards that my merry band of stalkers has to back off. Ugh, women are no bloody farm animals! Anyway, a promise ring will therefore do as well I suppose, no one will ever know that there's no man involved, but I'd have to check… Damn, I'll still have to find a way to get one, which I won't be able to do as a person that's both underage and female. Bloody archaic wizarding world, I'm a modern woman, why can't I buy a bloody promise ring here!"

"Breathe Hermione! I'll fetch one for you, you'd need to go to Diagon Alley for that anyway, which is easier for me.", Bill interjected. At that she simply flung her arms around him once again.

"Oh thank you William!", she mumbled, her voice slightly muffled by his hair. "I'll owe you forever!"

"Don't worry my dear Ms. Scuttles, and I actually have quite a taste in jewelry after dealing with artifacts in Egypt for years.", Bill softly answered her, not really realizing yet that he'd just all but proposed to the girl he loved. "By the way, Charlie and I are sneaking into Hogwarts during the Yule ball, I'll be able to hand it over then."

They both smiled, content in each others' arms, and then collected their stuff to walk back to the village, Hermione still had to go Christmas shopping with her friends.