How to Play Nice by WeasleyForMe
Bill finds out that his new work assignment has him paired with Hermione. Can he learn how to play nice with her? Bill/Hermione
Hermione was bored to tears. She had been on her date with Zacharias for all of an hour, and she just wanted to go home.
"And that was when I took over as the department head. I really was the only one with the competence and knowledge to run the program efficiently. The department of International Magical Cooperation is so important to our daily lives, after all." He rambled on. Every topic Hermione brought up was completely taken over by stories of his self-praise.
"Mmhmm," Hermione muttered, twirling her necklace around her fingers. What was taking so long for their food to arrive? Hadn't she endured enough to justify calling it an early night?
Zacharias picked a speck of lint from his tie. "And what about your department? Muggle Security? That sounds drab, Hermione. Are you still the only one in the department?"
She bristled slightly at his words. "It's been enjoyable so far. I run the department, along with my assistant. We also have a Gringotts curse breaker working on several assignments with us. It's far from drab," she informed him with a frown.
He brushed his blond hair out of his eyes. "You should try for a transfer," he told her, not bothering to acknowledge that she enjoyed what she did. "I could try to get a spot for you in International Cooperation, but that might make it awkward for you to be flirting with your boss all day." He winked at Hermione, something he surely thought she would find appealing.
Groaning, Hermione looked around for their waiter; she had already had three glasses of wine, and their food was nowhere in sight. She just shrugged in response to Zacharias.
"Who did you get as your curse breaker?" he asked her offhandedly.
"Bill Weasley," she replied, delighted to see that food was on its way.
"Well at least he's been at Gringotts for awhile. I almost feel bad for the curse breakers, the way they keep getting pushed into new assignments every other week. There's no work for them now that the war is over. Dead end career," he muttered.
Hermione glared at him and stuck her knife into her chicken. Had their last date been this bad? Maybe she wouldn't have noticed if Bill hadn't said something earlier, but Zacharias was a right wanker. It also didn't help that she had been comparing him to Bill all night, and she couldn't help but feel as though Zacharias' blond hair was rather dull compared to ginger. And he wasn't even trying to be nice; at least Bill had changed his tune today.
"It's not a dead end career if their work is still useful," Hermione added after swallowing a bite of food. "I am certainly not trained to manage exploding post boxes on my own. That's why I needed him."
Zacharias burst into laughter. "I thought that post box rubbish was made up when I heard the Minister talking about it! You mean to tell me you are actually working on that ridiculous project?" he asked, chuckling at Hermione's apparent misfortune.
Hermione sighed. This date was a complete waste of time. "Yup, poor me," she muttered, shoveling her dinner down as if she had been training for an eating contest against Ron.
"Save some room for dessert," Zacharias told her with a smirk that made her want to run away.
"Actually, I'm rather full right now, and I think I'm too tired for a movie," Hermione informed him, trying to rapidly end their date.
Zacharias set his napkin down and signaled the waiter for their bill. "I'll take you home then," he said with a smile once he had paid for their meal.
The walk through Diagon Alley felt even longer than dinner, and Hermione wasn't enjoying Zacharias' arm draped across her shoulders. She kept trying to squirm away from him, but he kept coming back.
"Have I ever told you about my internship with Kingsley Shacklebolt? That was how I was offered a position at the Ministry to begin with..." he droned on about being the best intern in the history of interns.
"Oh look, there's my house!" Hermione announced when her porch came into view, still a block away. She picked up the pace and within a minute she was unlocking her front door.
"Pretty excited to get home, aren't you?" Zacharias asked as Hermione pushed her door open.
When she turned to say goodnight, she realized he had followed her into her living room. "What are you doing?" she asked haughtily, wanting to get away from him as soon as possible.
"I thought you wanted to skip to the end of the date, since you didn't want to go see the movie," he replied suggestively, taking her hand and kissing along her fingers until he reached her wrist.
She jerked her hand away from him. "You must be joking," she replied with a sarcastic laugh.
"But, Hermione, I wanted to-"
"But, nothing! I've tried my hardest to listen to you drone on and on about yourself, but it's so boring! And you're rude! I sincerely hope you aren't expecting another date with me. Good night," she told him with finality, pointing toward the front door. When he made another move to reach for her, she pulled her wand from her purse and pointed it at his nose. She watched him slowly back out of the door onto the porch, closing the door as he went.
Hermione huffed and kicked her shoes across the room before retreating to her bathroom. A very hot shower was the only thing that would make her feel better.
Bill spent the day on Saturday cleaning out boxes of things he retained after his divorce. These were the last items he had thrown together before he left Shell Cottage for good.
Fleur's favourite vase? It sure would be fun to throw it out the window into the dumpster. So he did just that.
Her collection of priceless, designer, ceramic garden gnomes from Better Gnomes and Gardens? She would be mad if he gave them away instead of having her come pick them up. But, his mum would love them as a Christmas gift!
The diamond earrings he gave her for their anniversary? He would sell them and buy himself a watch.
He merrily sang along to the Wireless as he incinerated his wedding pictures, one photo at a time. When "Catch My Snitch" by the Weird Sisters came on, he turned the volume up and thought about Hermione as he tapped his wand to the tempo. He knew she was part of the reason he felt motivated to destroy all of his material reminders of Fleur. As much as he hated to admit it, Hermione had caught his interest. And as much as he wanted to forget about her, he knew he wouldn't be able to.
"Hey, this is kind of fun," he muttered, turning the pictures into paper airplanes and then zapping them as they flew around his flat.
He paused in his path of destruction to examine one of the wedding photos. He spotted Hermione, Harry and Ron off to the side of a picture of himself dancing with Fleur. Hermione looked radiant. In his jaded opinion, Fleur could have been removed completely from the image, and Hermione could have been placed in her spot, making the photo so much better.
He watched as the Hermione in the photo spun around in her blue dress before pausing to wink at Bill. He smiled at the image and immediately tore off the half containing Fleur. He set the good half of the picture aside and continued merrily with his previous work.
Aww Bill :) I guess he's having a better weekend than Hermione! I hope you enjoyed it!