August 1995
Bill knew he hadn't spent as much time with the younger half of his siblings as he had with Charlie or even Percy. Age alone meant that they hadn't been on earth as long as Charlie and Hogwarts had meant he missed a lot of them growing up. He did, however, believe that he had done an excellent job instilling the Code of Brothers in all of his brothers at least, if not Ginny as well. Percy's betrayal was a shock, but he assumed that was the outlier. One night when he caught Fred helping Hermione make cookies in the kitchen, he realized he was wrong.
Fred was sitting on the counter discussing potions of all things while Hermione added ingredients seemingly at random. A handful of flour here and a teacup of sugar there, it was very chaotic for such an ordered girl.
"I'm telling you, Fred, polyjuice isn't that hard. It's time-consuming. You just don't have the patience for it, is all," he caught Hermione saying.
"That's what I don't understand. How did you have time for it?" Was the response.
"Easy, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were busy with the basilisk and all the other professors didn't care," Hermione shrugged, shoveling honey into the concoction in her bowl.
"So, what would it cost me to get you to modify polyjuice? I can think of some interesting payment ideas," Fred smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to blush. Then, he swooped down for a kiss, which she eagerly returned.
That's when Bill realized something needed to be done. The Code of Brothers was already in danger from that utter prat Percy. Now Fred was moving in on Ron's girl. This was so wrong. He was going to have a talk with this one later. First, he was going to have to come up with a distraction for George, otherwise, they would tag team him and he wouldn't get anywhere.
Three days later, Bill finally got George to work upstairs with Harry, Ron, and Hermione getting the attic cleaned up. He cornered Fred in the library, doing illegal research.
"Fred, got a second?" Bill asked, startling his brother.
"Yeah, sure, what's up? Do I need to be worried?" Fred asked, laughing nervously.
"Just wanted to talk. Clarify something if you will," Bill explained.
"What's that?" Fred asked, getting serious.
"I was watching you and Hermione the other night. What was that about?" Bill asked, trying to lead in.
"Uh… nothing! Not a thing! Theoretical, purely theoretical. No one our age could brew polyjuice!" Fred said quickly, too quickly.
"Not about that, but we will come back to it," Bill said, suddenly concerned about the content of that conversation. "No, we need to talk about Hermione."
"What about her?" Fred said, taking a defensive stance.
"She's great, don't get me wrong. But, she's not yours, mate," Bill said as firmly as possible.
"What the hell does that mean?" Fred asked, getting angry.
"She's Ron's, mate. He gets first dibs. Even if he decides not to pursue her, you never can. It could ruin their friendship. She's not yours," Bill reiterated.
"Look, Billy-boy, you have no place. None. She's a girl, not a goat. She can make her own choices. She can have whoever she wants. She had bloody Viktor Krum for most of the year last year. They're pen pals! We worship him and she swaps bloody recipes with him! You, of all people, do not dictate Hermione Granger's moves!" Fred shouted.
"Defensive, there, Freddie?" Bill asked, not ready for his baby brother to stand up to him like a man.
"No. Just realistic. You haven't been here, Bill. You've been off in Egypt having your adventures and we've been here. Where the hell did you come up with the idea that Ron has a crush on her?" Fred asked, leaving Bill feeling mild guilt.
"I have eyes, Fred. She's the only girl he ever talks about. You are too close to the situation to see clearly," Bill informed him.
"Uh, Bill," Ron interrupted, knocking on the door.
"Yes?" Bill asked rubbing his eyes.
"Hermione is the only girl I can stand besides Ginny. In fact, she's like Ginny to me. A sister, not a love interest. Assuming she can't be anything other than my crush just because we hang out is an insult to both of us," Ron informed his oldest brother.
Bill really became interested in the floor about then.
"Look, Fred's right. You've been in Egypt for years getting a start in your career. And that's great and all, don't get me wrong. But you've been there and we've been here with stones and chambers and escaped prisoners and polyjuiced aurors. The most you've done lately is fix Gin back up after that stupid diary, and that was two years ago," Ron pressed. "Anyway, I've got to get back. My 'future wife' might murder me if I don't get her these rags for cleaning."
The Burrow seemed to be shutting down. Less and less adults came in and out during the day and Molly Weasley seemed to be in a frenzy trying to get her house in order before what she called "the big shift." But that didn't mean that the games or the spew of teenagers stopped. It was what Ginny assumed to be the way the adults kept the kids out of Order business. This day everyone was over, ready to hold another Quidditch match. Marley and Neville were outside with the little ones as the twins, Harry, Ron, and Hermione got ready for the Quidditch match.
That was when Draco came through the floo, watching Ginny write vigorously at the table in her Quidditch gear, ready to play.
"Woah," Draco said, staring at the scene. "Who is more important than Quidditch to you? It can't be Michael Corner."
"It's Fleur, I'm trying to set up plans with her Christmas so she and Bill can meet, even though he is still on my shit list. Wait," she said looking up at him, glaring. "Why wouldn't I be writing to Michael?"
"Because you apparently broke up three days before you left here," He smiled coyly.
"Why would you think that?" Ginny said crossing her arms.
Draco let out a small laugh, "People talk, plus he was walking around Diagon Alley with another girl. That was a bit embarrassing on my end. I blame you for that."
"How long have you known?" Ginny said wiping her eyes.
"A few weeks," Draco said laughing and sitting next to her, pulling her hands from her cheeks, holding them. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because," Ginny sighed, "because of everything going on with Harry and Cedric and Voldemort and you two were at each other's throats all last year about Moody and fighting and it was nice to have some peace."
"What does any of that have to do with you not being able to talk to me?" Draco said, hurt. "We talked all last year, you believed Neville like I did. None of that explains why you couldn't tell me or Harry as friends that you weren't in a relationship with someone."
"Harry isn't in a good place right now, and I don't want him to get worse because" Ginny shook her head.
"Because?" Draco said, squeezing her hand. "Because I have feelings for you and he has feelings for you and you still have feelings for the both of us?"
"Harry needs me as a friend right now," Ginny said, looking up at him. "The only thing that will happen is things will get messy."
"Things are already messy and I need you as a friend too."
"You don't need me," Ginny said shaking her head.
"I will always need you," Draco said with a finality Ginny had never heard before as he pulled her up from the chair. "I'll always need the girl who listens and trusts in me. I'll always need you, just like when we were kids, or when the baby was born last year. I will always need you and nothing can replace that Gin. Nothing, no one. And I'll wait for you to see that. If you want to wait until Harry is more emotionally stable, I will. No one could ever change the way I feel about you. We're not little kids anymore, Gin. Give me a chance to show you what I mean to you."
"I don't want anyone to get hurt," Ginny said as Draco pulled her to his chest.
"Stop trying to be strong for everyone else, and put yourself first for once," Draco said running his hands through her glossy hair. "Do what will make you happy, and if you do that, then you can never hurt me, even if it means I break my own heart."
"What if I decide I want to marry Neville and have eight kids?" Ginny said looking up and smirking.
"Then I'll be happy for you," He told her before he leaned down and kissed her. It was a tender kiss, different than the ones they had shared as children. Ginny wrapped her arms around his middle before pulling away. "But I'll still take my chances before then."
It was another week before Bill was brave enough to face his siblings. Gryffindor or not, he was waiting for them to cool off before going back into the fire. He would be lucky if Ginny didn't tell their mother what was said. Because, of course, the Weasley children had gathered, and that meant nothing was sacred. Well, except Charlie in Romania and Percy the Prat.
If Bill would have been in better contact with his brothers, he would have known that the Sorting Hat legitimately wanted to put the twins, Harry, and Ginny in Slytherin. Draco, himself, already was a Slytherin. Hermione would have been a Ravenclaw if not for her heart, and Ron was almost a Hufflepuff, lousy with loyalty. Those thoughts alone would have been a good thing to have before Bill showed up for supper at Grimmauld Place that night.
It started out innocently enough. Bill was seated at the table with the others, ready to enjoy his mother's cooking. The twins were exchanging pranking stories with Remus and Sirius, getting new ideas for the upcoming year. Once the food was on the table, everyone started dishing out their own plates. Well, everyone except for Hermione.
"Hermione, are you feeling alright?" Bill unknowingly took the bait.
"Well, I'm waiting for you to fill my plate. You seem to think you have the right to dictate my life, yeah?" Hermione said snidely.
"That's not what I said!" Bill immediately thought back on the conversation.
"Well, at the very least, you seem to think I need a man to make my decisions for me," Hermione said, staring him in the eyes. He, ashamedly, blinked first.
"Look, that's not what I meant," Bill tried again, hoping his mother was too busy eating to listen in.
"Two words, Bill. 'She's Ron's.' Those words ring any bells?" Hermione asked. Bill was about to respond when he noticed Ginny wasn't eating either.
"What's your angle, Gin?" He asked his embarrassment leading to anger.
"No angle, just waiting for you to dictate whether or not Harry or Draco get to fill my plate, seeing that you don't think girls are capable of thinking for themselves," She said,
"Shit, Gin, not you, too!" He he glanced at his mother.
"Don't worry, Billy-boy, they put up a muffilato to keep us from hearing Order business," Fred smirked.
Bill suddenly decided he wanted his mother to intervene. Anything to save him from the wrath of Ginny and Hermione.
"Don't worry, Bill. We won't attack you. Yet," Ginny said with a smirk.
He relaxed and took a bite of custard cream. He was unprepared for his nose to become a beak or for his arms to suddenly become wings. He spent the next 60 seconds regretting begging his mother for even more brothers after Percy's birth. He was a giant canary. His little brothers had snuck him a joke cream that caused him to turn into a big bird, all because he'd insulted the little bird they valued so much.
"That was a bloody awful trick," he exclaimed as soon as he was a human again.
"It was bloody awful of you-you tell me that Ron had dibs just because he's friends with a girl," Fred retorted, ending the discussion.
"Moony, this is a horrible idea!" Sirius shouted, banging his fists on the table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place.
"Hush, you'll wake the kids." Hestia scolded, whacking him on the arm with a wooden spoon.
"Ow!" Sirius said with much too much flourish to be injured. "And since when are you Miss Susie Homemaker?"
"You're fine. And since I've been cooped up in this dingy place for weeks on end. I can't believe this is what you call 'clean.' It's still filthy." Hestia said, continuing to work on cookies.
"Let's get back to the subject at hand," Sirius said with a roll of his eyes. "You can't go to those werewolf camps. They'll eat you alive. Some of them literally."
"They won't eat me alive. I've been working with some of them off and on for the last decade. Those packs respect me." Remus said, ignoring the banter as he continued research.
"I still say it's a horrid idea." Sirius scoffed, reaching for his tea cup.
"I still say you need less caffeine. We're at an impasse." Remus shrugged, eating another piece of chocolate.
"I don't see how my caffeine addiction is on the same level as you risking your life in those camps," Sirius said, brow knit in confusion.
"You obviously haven't experienced you without caffeine," Hestia muttered under her breath.
"What was that, love?" Sirius asked, knowing full well what she said.
"I said, you deaf old man, that you need caffeine almost more than you need air." Hestia clarified, raising her spoon to smack him again.
"Hestia, love, if you don't mind my asking, why are you making dozens of cookies at half midnight?" Remus asked, staring at her.
"Because, Kreature has a nasty habit of sneaking back in here at night and scaring the twins. Fawns all over them, calling them the future of the House of Black, if only he can save them from the 'Blood Traitor' and his villainous ideas." Hestia shivered.
"I could just strangle that stupid elf." Sirius groused. "But I won't since that's exactly what dear old Mummy would do."
"Speaking of, however did you get that awful painting off the wall?" Remus asked, making conversation.
"Don't think I don't know what you're doing." Sirius glared. "We'll come back to this whole werewolf thing. To answer your question, I took this lovely thing call acetone to it."
"And how did you find out about this 'acetone'? And what exactly is it?" Remus asked.
"I caught Hermione Granger removing something called nail polish when she was staying at the house one time. Mind, this was before Ginny taught her that nail charm girls use. Anyway, I asked what potion she fouled up, so she explained Muggle nail polish and how she removed it. I found a giant bottle of the paint remover at one of those lovely hardware stores. It was very cathartic to literally erase that woman's memory from this house." Sirius explained.
"I can only imagine." Remus shook his head. Just then, screams could be heard up the stairs. They were the screams of children afraid of something in the dark, not of a traumatized teenager, so Hestia popped the last pan of cookies in the oven and told the menfolk to watch them. Then, she set a timer and told Remus to take the cookies out when it went off.
"Back to these werewolf camps." Sirius turned on his friend.
"I don't care what you say, Padfoot. I'm going." Remus glared.
"Oh, that's not what I was going to say at all," Sirius smirked. "I just had a question."
"What is that?" Remus asked skeptically.
"What are you going to tell my poor baby cousin?" Sirius' smirk got even larger.
"I hate you sometimes," Remus said, shaking his head.
"Bill." Molly Weasley stopped her oldest son. "I know you're out of the house now, and you believe you can do whatever you want, or say whatever you want, but I am still your mother."
"Oh no," Bill muttered. Molly ignored him and charged on.
"If I ever even dream of you speaking like that to or about women again, I'll personally skin you alive. Remember, Fred and George get it from the Prewett side." Her hard glare bore into him and Bill remembered that it didn't matter if the kids had told her, she was a mother, practically omniscient, and he had insulted her.
"I'm sorry, Mum," Bill said, hugging her close.
"I know you are. But remember, you can always be better tomorrow."
Kat: Silly Bill, you don't tell girls how to feel!
Gabs: We've actually had most of this written since the conception of this fic… because this is where we want to be.
Kat: It is, we're enjoying this. Thanks to our wonderful reviewers and to those who have checked out Gabs's animagus fic.
Gabs: Yes, thank you! And thank you to everyone for being patient with us while real life gets in our way.
Kat: We own nothing and really take your comments into consideration. Be patient with Ginny, she will make a choice soon. I promise.
XOXO
Gabs and Kat
P.S. We posted early because you guys rock!
