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
"Cornish blue pixies," Hermione stated.
Bill narrowed his eyes. "Huh?"
She smiled across the desk at him. "We have reason to believe that Cornish blue pixies have been intentionally placed in a Muggle school in Westminster to wreak havoc. Could be another dark follower like Macnair, could be a prank by some witches or wizards who live in the area. Regardless, Muggles can't see the pixies, so the inexplicable damage done to the school has administration believing they have vandals amongst their students. Not a pretty picture since Kingsley has already been contacted by the Prime Minister regarding the other mysterious happenings."
"So I'm assuming he wants this taken care of yesterday?" Bill asked, knowing how the Minister could get.
"Precisely," Hermione replied with a sigh.
"You do realize I'm a curse breaker, right? I'm not a specialist in magical creature care and removal," Bill told her.
"Maybe we should call Charlie," Hermione muttered, realizing she could probably have the entire Weasley family in her office working on these projects and still never get them done.
Bill, not wanting to show any sign of weakness, thought quickly on his feet, "But don't you worry, I might not be working with magical creatures as my job but I did do quite well with them in school! I'm sure we will be able to handle them faster than a Firebolt." There was no way he would ever agree that any of his brothers were better than him in any aspect. Except Percy; nobody could brown-nose like Percy.
Hermione wasn't so sure that Bill's ego wasn't perhaps a little greater than his abilities, but she gave him an approving smirk nonetheless. "Well then I guess we should get started on a plan to rid the school of them."
"Right," he agreed, and the two of them fell into silence as they tried to think of a way to handle the situation. "Why don't we just immobilize them, cage them and hand them over to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures?"
"I was thinking the same thing," Hermione said. "But we'll be swarmed by them, and they love to make mischief."
"Have you met Fred and George? I think I have enough experience in this field after all," Bill told her with a grin.
An hour later, Bill and Hermione arrived at the school dressed in matching green jumpsuits. Kingsley Shacklebolt had arranged for them to appear as part of an extermination crew, and for their benefit, the school had cancelled classes for the day.
"Let's get to work," Hermione said as they paused outside the suspect gymnasium.
"You open the door, and I'll start the attack," Bill said as he reached for the door handle.
"No, you open the door, and I'll start the attack," Hermione argued. "I had a class with Lockhart my second year where he let pixies loose and- never mind, just let me do it!"
"Don't argue with me, Hermione!" Bill fought back. "I have more experience."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "We'll do it together then," she seethed before throwing the door open.
They entered the room together, wands drawn, and found a disaster. Hermione gaped at the torn flooring and the shredded ceiling tiles. Then the sound of dozens of pixies in flight overtook her senses.
As she gasped, Bill pulled her by the wrist until her body was flush with his. She looked up into his eyes, but he was scanning the room. "Hermione, duck!" he called as he shot a spell over her shoulder. She dodged out of the way, and he immobilized a bright blue pixie that had been reaching for her hair.
"Immobulus!" Hermione shouted just in time to suspend a pixie in place above Bill's head; it was holding a hammer.
"They're everywhere!" Bill shouted over the noise of the pixies chattering back and forth.
Hermione dodged a basketball that they threw at her and stunned three of them in a row. "Just keep going!"
Bill was at the other side of the large auditorium, crouching behind a battered podium when Hermione realized she had been cornered against the far wall. Bill was stunning a set of pixies when he heard her screams.
"Ow! Bill! Help me!" she screeched as five pixies picked her up by her hair.
"Hang on," he called back, blasting his way toward the middle of the room where Hermione had been lifted several feet from the floor. She was thrashing around, trying to hit the one that was tugging on the back of her jumpsuit.
"Get off of me!" she was shouting just as another pixie flew by and took her wand right out of her hand. "What the hell? Give that back!" she shrieked.
Bill would have been amused by the way Hermione looked like she was running around in midair, except for the fact that now there was an armed pixie chasing him around underneath her. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, retrieving her wand from the wayward pixie and ducking out of the way as it flew straight for his head.
After stunning each of the blue pixies which had been holding her up by her hair, he was left with just the one grasping onto her jumpsuit. "Stop thrashing about, or I'll accidentally stun you!" he hollered at her.
Glaring down at him, she stopped her movements.
"Immobulus," he muttered at the precise moment he moved underneath her.
"Bill!" she shrieked before landing in his grasp. The wind was knocked from her lungs, but he managed to set her gently on the uneven floor.
"Immobulus!" she managed to say a second later when one of the pixies made a swan-dive toward Bill's head.
"This is ridiculous! Just stay close and get this done," Bill said as she zapped a few more. The pair stood back to back, partners in a duel against two dozen or so pixies. They moved as one, unable to be bested by the little trouble makers once they worked as a team.
Although the room was filled with a noticeable number of frozen ones, there were still a few flitting around. "Just get that one by the volleyball net," Hermione told Bill.
"By the what?" he asked. She realized he wouldn't understand the Muggle terminology and froze it herself.
"Is that all of them," she asked, cautiously taking a step away from Bill and looking wildly around the room.
"Think so," Bill confirmed as he ran a hand through his hair. He turned to look at Hermione, and immediately laughter bubbled to the surface which he could not contain.
Hermione's hair was sticking out in all directions, her hands were on her hips and she was glaring at him. "I'm sorry, but your hair is so funny, I can't stop," he gasped, clutching his sides as he roared with laughter.
"Oh yes, laugh it up Bill Weasley. Have a good chuckle," she muttered darkly. "But there will be nobody here to protect you when I do this!" She lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him, reaching for his hair.
Not expecting for her to end up in his arms, Bill staggered back a step when her weight came colliding into him. He held onto her curvy body quite willingly until he realized why she was there. She reached behind him and pulled his hair loose from its tie and started to run her fingers through his silky ginger hair, causing it to stand out in odd places.
"Oh, you'll pay for this, Granger," he growled as she cackled merrily. Just then a flash of blue flew past them and they both stopped.
"Immobulus!" they shouted in unison, and two streaks of light hit the pixie at the same time, freezing it in place.
Bill and Hermione shared a smile. "Truce?" he asked, holding up his hands.
"For now," she agreed with a wink. "Now let's pack these little nuisances up in this cage," she said, pulling a tiny carrier from her pocket and expanding it in size.
"Right," he agreed. "Let's get them back to the Ministry."
Woohoo! Thanks for all of the reviews from chapter 8! That was awesome! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter as well! Thanks!