A/N: No excuses. I'm posting 14 and 15 today, I have 19 written so will hopefully be releasing those to you soon as well. My sincerest apologies.
Hermione sat in her home, sipping at a cup of warm tea, staring off into the middle distance. It had been four weeks since the dinner at the Burrow, and Hermione hadn't been to another since. She'd resumed her Saturday breakfasts with Harry and Ron, and everything seemed to be changing. She thought back to the day that she met with Bill in her office, remembering how nervous he was to speak with her and how cute he was when he stuttered through an explanation.
There was a knock on her office door at a quarter 'til noon. She wasn't surprised, Bill was always rather punctual. She told him to come in and he awkwardly shuffled in and took a seat across from her. She smiled encouragingly at him, knowing that the topic was going to be uncomfortable for him. She offered him something to either eat or drink, not having asked Dean to do a lunch run just yet. He declined, making her regret asking, as now it would be rude for her to eat and him to not. She resigned herself to eat something when she got off work, knowing it would be several long hours before she left for the day.
"Hermione, I've been struggling a lot lately with a few things. Well, more than just lately. I guess it's been since I was bitten; before I ever married Fleur." He trailed off, not exactly knowing how to continue. Hermione kept a gentle smile on her face in hopes that he wouldn't shut himself off before he got to the root of his problem. When he stayed quiet, as if waiting for her to say something, she cleared her throat.
"Well, Bill, it's been my experience as a healer that things are never as bad as they seem. Sometimes, the best way to fix your problems is just to talk about them. I realize that you're nervous about something, but you came here to talk to me; so talk." She would sit there all day for the man if she had to, but she did have work to do and hoped she could help him in a quick and efficient way.
Bill seemed to think about what she said for a moment, perhaps gathering the ideas that he came to discuss with her in the first place. He made eye contact with the small brunette witch sitting just a few feet away from him. Her warm gaze gave him all the courage that he needed to talk about what he needed to with her.
Bill opened his mouth to spill everything out to her, and someone barged into the office. It was the man that had shown up the day before to his parents' house with his sister; Dean something.
"Hermione, come quick! They need you in surgery suite four. Something went wrong with a standard surgery on a pregnant woman and the fetus is in distress!" Hermione wasted no time jumping to her feet and following the other man out of the room. She seemed to remember that Bill was sitting in her office still, and ran back to tell him that she would send a patronus as soon as she was off work that evening.
Bill sat in stunned silence for a few moments. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but garnered from what Dean had said, that Hermione's immediate presence was required up in surgery. That couldn't be a good thing. After a few moments, the man got to his feet and made his way out of the hospital.
Hermione still hadn't gotten back to Bill about that meeting. The problem that they'd had in surgery still annoyed her to think about. One of the healers thought that it was perfectly safe for a woman who was twenty weeks pregnant to undergo elective surgery. She was to have the magical equivalent to a tummy tuck and breast enlargement. The woman was stupid enough herself to want corrective surgery when her body was just going to change more before the baby was born, but the healer knew better. She reported him to Healer Adams and even he was less than impressed.
The healer that green-lighted the surgery was to go in front of the review board in a week. He'd been put on suspension since the incident and no one was too upset about that. Apparently the man was the least sought after healer in the hospital. He was a general surgeon and had no business messing with a specialty surgery anyway.
Hermione went to take another sip of her tea and grimaced when she realized it was cold. She sat it down on her coffee table, deciding that she needed to contact Bill. She wasn't doing anything at the moment and she'd been putting off the inevitable for long enough. She stood up, stretching out her back until she felt a pop.
She walked over to where her owl, Hermes, was sitting on a perch by the window. He appeared to be dozing, and Hermione felt bad about disturbing him. The light gray owl blinked up at the witch, awaiting instructions of some kind. She patted his head and gave him a treat, walking to the writing desk that she had set up near the bird's perch. She scribbled out a quick note to Bill, asking him to meet her tonight for dinner. She'd fix something for the two of them.
She handed the letter to Hermes and opened the window to let him out. He spread his wings and leapt out of the window. Hermione watched him for a while until he disappeared into no more than a speck in the distance. She walked off into the kitchen to clean up a bit so that she could get dinner started. Whether or not Bill was coming, she still needed to make something for herself. She decided on steak and baked potatoes. She happened to like hers rare, and knew for a fact that Bill liked his almost raw.
She didn't have to wait long for a reply from the tall, handsome, red-headed wizard. Just as she was getting the potatoes in the oven, Hermes flew back through the window. He landed on his perch gracefully and offered his leg for her to untie the letter. She pulled the window shut behind him before relieving the owl of his burden. It may only be September, but it was already chilly outside.
She quickly perused the letter, taking note that Bill would be over in about thirty minutes. She ran and took a quick shower, using a bit of wandless magic to tame her riotous hair to fall around her face gently. She put on a light blue dress that fell to her knees and a white half sweater over it. She put only a bit of make-up on, not wanting to seem like she was trying too hard. She felt like she was getting ready for a date, but blushed every time she thought it. Bill would probably be highly offended if he knew what she was thinking.
Shaking her head, she went back out to the kitchen. She pulled the steaks out of the refrigerator and set them out on the counter, heating the stove. She heard her floo activate and took a deep breath to calm herself before seeing the object of her desire. A throat cleared in the door way, she turned to meet Bill's intense gaze. His deep blue eyes darkened at the sight of her, something else flashing through them as well.
It was at that moment that Hermione remembered that it was only two days until the next full moon. She wasn't scared of the man, but she was nervous that she'd invited him into her home without thinking it through. She came to her senses relatively quickly, taking note that he was wearing a blue button up dress shirt and black slacks. She thought he looked rather attractive dressed as a Muggle.
"Hermione?" She startled out of her reverie, not sure how long she'd drifted off upon seeing him. She put one of the steaks in the skillet on the stove, giving herself another moment to calm herself.
"Hello, Bill. Thank-you for coming; I'm sorry I never got back to you after our botched meeting a few weeks ago." She smiled up at him, walking over to a cupboard to take down a bottle of red wine.
"That's quite alright, Mione. I understand." That was one of the amazing things about Bill, he always understood. She smiled even broader, pouring them each a glass of the wine. She then walked back to the stove and flipped her steak.
"What did you want to talk about, Bill?" She continued to cook, turning slightly to face the wizard. He suddenly looked sheepish, having trouble making eye contact with the young woman standing so close to him. He took a large gulp of the wine and leant back against one of the counters.
"I seem to be developing more and more into a wolf with every month that passes. It confuses me that it's taken so many years for my wolf tendencies to come about, but there are several specific tendencies that make me uncomfortable to deal with." Hermione was intrigued by the way Bill was talking. She couldn't wait to discuss with Beth exactly what this could potentially mean for all people bitten by werewolves who didn't necessarily change every month. She finished the steaks and motioned him to the table. She carried the food and wine over before sitting down across from him.
"Tell me more about these tendencies. What specifically is making you uncomfortable? I know you mentioned talking to Remus last month and him being unhelpful, but perhaps his advice was wise after all?" She daintily cut her steak up into small bits, noticing that Bill was trying not to make it noticeable that he didn't cut his, but just jammed his fork into it and started tearing chunks off with his teeth. She ignored the behavior, knowing how close to the full moon it was, and really she should just be happy that he was attempting to use his fork at all.
He took his time answering her inquiries, not sure how to explain his animalistic tendencies to a human woman. Hermione was very patient as she took one of the pieces of steak and dipped it in a bit of steak sauce before bringing her fork to her mouth. She didn't notice that Bill kept his eyes on her the whole time, completely mesmerized by the dainty, yet sexy, way she was eating a slab of meat. After she stopped to take a sip of her wine and cut into her potato, he snapped out of it and answered her questions.
"The more basic needs of survival don't seem to be a concern of my inner wolf. Wow, that sounds like I'm a mental patient, talking about my inner wolf like we are two separate beings." Hermione cracked a smile at his rambling, knowing that Remus talked the same way whenever he mentioned his furry little problem.
"Please continue, Bill. I know what you mean." Hermione took another sip of her wine, not breaking eye contact with the nervous man. She forgot, once again, how close it was to the full moon, and Bill's wolf might see that as a challenge and feel that she need be put in her place. Bill took a minute to realize he was growling deep in his throat. He cleared his throat and hoped that Hermione hadn't noticed. She apparently hadn't because she was still patiently waiting for him to continue.
"Umm, alright. What I mean to say, is that the basic survival needs of eating and having shelter aren't an issue because I have a home, and I could never possibly go hungry with my mother around. The issues that I've been having with the wolf, is more to do with the mating aspects of nature. My wolf seems to feel as if my sexual needs haven't been met in quite some time, in addition to having decided that I've been in recent contact with the woman to whom I'm to mate with for life." Bill wasn't looking anywhere near the brunette healer at the moment, beyond embarrassed by his own admissions.
The woman across from him hadn't made a sound or a movement for a few minutes, since about half way through his short monologue. She wasn't sure what to say, nor how to react. She hadn't been subject to this issue before, as her specialty was in female health, not humanoid beings of a more supernatural origin. She finally understood what Bill meant about being uncomfortable in the subject matter, however.
"Might I ask what Remus' advice to you was?" She wasn't sure that she wanted to know, but she'd thought that she'd ask anyways, completely subjective as a healer, you understand.
Bill looked embarrassed before he actually decided to answer. "He told me to take my mate." Hermione was shocked by his admission. She wasn't certain if that would cause Bill to completely change into a werewolf, or if it would make the woman into the same hybrid that Bill was, but it sounded like Bill wasn't sure of those questions himself. She really needed to talk to Beth about the situation.
"Do you know who this woman might be? Or is it going to be more of an impulsive thing when you find her? I fail to see that a relationship would go well if, right off the bat, you claimed her for life. Women prefer to at least know of a man's intentions before entering into anything with him." She felt strange giving this advice to the man, but she was reeling from the fact that she would never get a chance with him now. She so badly wanted him, but now she knew that there was a woman out there that was, for lack of a better term, meant for him. She tried not to show her disappointment at this revelation, he was never hers to be jealous of after all.
Bill looked even more embarrassed this time, going so far as to flush a bit behind his ears. He rubbed the back of his neck as if it burned there as well, avoiding eye contact with the woman sitting across from him as he did. He really didn't want to answer that particular question.
"I have an idea of whom it is but, as you said, I should really make my intentions known first before entering into any sort of possibly disastrous relationship." He knew that now would be the best time to say something to the witch in question, before he lost the nerve, so he swallowed whatever dignity he had, and spoke the words that would forever alter the future relationship between himself and the young brunette witch gazing at him with a mixture of curiosity and ambiguity. "That being said, Hermione, I would like to make it perfectly clear to you that I am speaking of you, as the woman in question, and my intentions are as thus, to make you mine."
A/N: Please Review.