A/N- I lowered the rating, so this should be safe for most. Be warned, though, that it is still a very STRONG PG-13, much like most of my other stories. (You can find most of them at www.sphereofsilence.net , and yes, that is a plug.

Chapter 2

Three Months Later

Bill wiped the sweat off his forehead. Egypt was as far as England as he could make it, and that suited him just fine. After the funerals, he kissed his mother and sister goodbye, hugged his brothers (Harry included) and took off as far and fast as he could.

England wasn't anywhere he wanted to be. Hermione had been hiding, but she had come out to say goodbye before he Apparated. For some reason, that was the goodbye that stuck in his mind.

* "Bill. Wait for a moment." Hermione stood at the bottom landing, her hair tied back and her face thinner then it normally was.

He had turned, and remembered feeling vaguely surprised that she had surfaced to see him off.

"Just three things. Then I'll leave you to go back to your Pyramids, OK?" She looked anxious, and he agreed more out of curiosity then anything else.

"First, is thank-you. I don't know if I would have made it through that first night if it wasn't for you." Bill shrugged uncomfortably, remembering how he had clung to her as she slept.

"Second, I know it hurts. Goddess, I know it hurts. But could you please write us? I think it would kill me to lose another Weasley. You became my family after my parents were killed." Before he could reply, she took a deep breath and plunged into the last.

"Third. This is the big one, Bill, and I can understand if you say no. But. if anything happens to Harry or I, will you take care of my baby? I found out for sure today. I'm pregnant, and I know that Ron looked up to you."

*

Perhaps, Bill reflected, that was why he remembered that goodbye the most. He had, stuttering, agreed to be a second godfather. Hermione smiled at him and went upstairs. It took him a few minutes to collect himself before he went outside to bid goodbye to the rest.

True to his word, he had written his mother and siblings once a month. And for some reason, he had taken to owling Hermione whenever he felt the urge. He asked her little things, about the baby, or her job at the archives, or how his sister was doing. And he was a little gratified to know that she answered every one of his letters, not too long after she would have gotten them.

He told himself he was just keeping tabs on his little brother's love. He told himself that she was just a link to Ron, as was the child she carried. But what he didn't let himself admit was that maybe, she was starting to mean a little more then that.

Swearing, he went back to attempting a translation on the runes engraved in the tomb. It was a lot of nonsense, and all he could get out of it was the lion will become a cat and the lioness cub will be raised with the head of the pride. He tried to sound them out, and had to jump out of the way as a scythe came swinging out at decapitation height. Since he couldn't make heads nor tails of the inscriptions, he decided to call it a night and headed out for a drink. If Hermione's name crossed his mind, he did his best to ignore it.

* In England, Hermione was bent over a toilet in her and Harry's flat. They both knew that Molly disapproved of them moving out on their own, but neither felt entirely comfortable in the Burrow anymore, where they had to face essences of Ron day after day. Ginny had wanted to move with them, but had stayed home. She didn't want to abandon her mother so soon after the final battle.

Harry held her hair as she threw up over and over again. He and Bill were the only ones who knew about her impending motherhood. She wouldn't be able to hide it naturally for much longer. Once she started to show, she would tell Molly. Until then, she would keep it between the three of them.

"OK, Now?" Harry asked her as she straightened up.

"I think so. I can't wait for him to move- maybe it'll seem more like pregnancy and less like indigestion then," she quipped as she reached for a cup of water to rinse out her mouth. Truthfully, she wasn't sure how she was going to handle being a single mother. Harry had been an enormous help, and not just emotionally. He had bullied her into accepting a room in a flat 'to make it less lonely', and then told her to decorate the third bedroom like a nursery. Ginny seemed a bit worried until she accidentally overheard a conversation between Harry and Seamus Finnegan when she was heading to meet him for supper.

".Hermione. Are you moving into Ron's place, mate?" "Not like that. She's the closest thing I've got to a sister. I want to take care of her." "I thought Ginny would be sister material for you, not Hermione." "Ginny's the one I'm in love with, Seamus. Not Hermione. And I wouldn't change that if I could."

A bit embarrassed at overhearing this, Ginny had spilled all to Hermione at first opportunity. Hermione still felt a warm glow whenever she thought of it. A sister. She'd always wanted a brother.

Brother. That's how she thought of more then a few people lately. It seemed that the Weasleys had decided that even though she and Ron had never gotten to marry, she was still their sister-in-law. Fred, George, Charlie. all three of them stopped by regularly, coming for tea or dragging her out for a meal.

And Bill, as promised, wrote her regularly. She wasn't quite sure of what to make of that, as she knew that he wrote her more then anyone else. She still loved Ron with all her heart, and wasn't quite sure what to do about the niggling feeling she got when she remembered clinging to Bill for that first night.

*

A voice that no one would have believed spoke in the darkness, coldly assessing.

"Is the reinformation campaign almost completed?"

"Yes, sir. We should have the new Army together within the month. Expect campaigns soon after that."

"How many did we manage to gather after the battle?"

"Fifty-three, sir. I also discovered one little bonus you may enjoy."

"And that is?"

"We captured one of Potter's best friends as well."

Eyes lit with manic delight, and the Lieutenant shuddered. He never wanted this job, but to leave would mean his death.

*

Hermione carefully dressed herself, getting ready to head to the Weasleys. Bill had come back from Egypt for the first time since he'd left, and he'd done it at her request. Both he and Harry would be at her side as she told Molly about the impending arrival. It wasn't that she was nervous, per se, but she needed the extra support. None of them was too sure about how Molly would react, and Hermione was so emotional these days.

Ginny had found out by accident when she walked into the room Hermione was busy decorating, and was very hurt no one had told her for about five minutes before her excitement overcame her. She was making sure that the Floo connection at the Burrow would accept Hermione's clearance. Since she was now in her second trimester, Apparating was no longer safe for her or the baby.

Harry emerged from his room, looking sleepy until he saw that Hermione was ready to go.

"All right there, Hermione?" he asked her, seeing once again the girl who had lied to the teachers after the mountain troll incident.

"Never better," she responded shakily. Harry let her get away with the lie. It was obvious to him that she needed it to steady herself.

"I'll meet you there," he said as she stepped into the flames and said "The Burrow!"

Less then thirty seconds later, she was shot straight into Bill's arms on the other side of the network. He was obviously expecting her, and they managed to not fall over as she caught her balance.

"Is everyone here?" she asked as she disentangled herself from him.

"I think we're still waiting on Charlie. Last minute shopping trip for mum." Bill responded, trying not to stare at her. He had felt the slight rounding of her tummy when he caught her, but that barely registered when he saw how she was blooming. Her face was rounding once again, her cheeks had more colour then the stark white they had been the last time he had held her. He shook himself.

"We should go claim seats, or we'll be sprawled out on the floor. That tends to happen when this family gets together," he said to fill the silence that seemed to go too long.

"Bill, there are nine seats in your living room," she said quietly, pain darkening her eyes.

Bill flinched. He had forgotten that with three taken away, there wouldn't be a need for them to scramble any more. Strangely, that hurt him almost as much as the news that Percy was a Death Eater had.

"Well, we want the good ones," he said lightly in an attempt to cover up his blunder. She smiled a bit, and both were glad when Harry came dashing in.

"Hermione, your work called as I was apparating out. Something about a field assignment, I told them you would get back to them when you got home. It was the old guy- you know, the one with the weird glasses?"

"I'll deal with it when I get home. Shall we?" she asked the two men in her life, and they walked arm in arm to the living room. None of them commented on how odd it felt to have Bill as part of the three instead of Ron.

Molly took the news better then expected. Only once did her eyes light dangerously, and then she visibly calmed herself.

"So, Hermione, who's baby is it? Harry's?" Molly asked, her voice calm and even. Ginny and Charlie glanced at each other worriedly. The calm voice was what usually happened when someone had committed something so dastardly that she wanted to make very sure of her facts before sending them to oblivion. In fact, the last time they remembered it being used was when Fred and George had used their pet Puffskien for Bludger practice.

Hermione flinched, and then looked straight into Molly's eyes.

"No, Molly. It's Ron's."

That simple sentence silenced everyone more completely then the announcement that Percy was a Death Eater. Molly gathered Hermione up in an embrace, and the two women cried together.

Charlie grimaced at the sight. He had heard rumours that some of the victims of the final battle weren't as dead as they seemed. Harry had brought him the information that Blaze was among them, and pretending to go along with the re-information campaign. She was their last spy, and Charlie was dying to get to her. He and Harry were leaving right after supper. Charlie only wanted to collect Blaze and get the hell out of there, but Harry wanted the remaining Death Eaters to pay, once and for all.

Bill noticed the emotions flicking over his brother's face. He shrugged, knowing that Charlie could take care of himself. Whatever his brother had his mind set on, there was no way that he would be able to talk him out of it. So he turned, and gathered his mother and Hermione into a hug. Harry sat back, knowing that dynamics were changing. He resented it, but realized that they couldn't all mourn Ron forever. They had to move on, and this was one way to do it. Ron would live on in the child, and Harry would make sure that the baby knew all about his real daddy.