Chapter 6

Bill stepped through the flames, slightly disoriented. He stumbled over the marble step in front of the brick fireplace. He gripped the marble mantel piece to steady himself, barely one missing the one of the many pictures of family and friends that adorned it. He shot a glare at the offending step, momentarily wishing the charms against apparation weren't in place on the building. He began to make his way to his ornate, antique desk when a knock drew his attention to the door.

"Come in," he semi-commanded as he glanced out the large picture window behind his desk. He turned at the sound of the door opening, crossed his arms over his chest, leaned back against the desk and crossed his ankles.

"Oh good, your back," Hermione popped her head in. Bill struggled to not fidget sheepishly. "Would you mind Harry using your floo hook-up? We just found out that Romilda Vain works here… and is still up to her old ways." Hermione began to giggle, apparently remembering the discovery. Her laughter was contagious and Bill found himself grinning despite having no idea who this Ms. Vain was or just what her 'old ways' were. Suddenly, she was jolted and pushed out of the way by Harry, who just rolled his eyes at them.

"Do you mind?" He asked desperate to escape before Romilda found an excuse to come back. Bill swept his arm in the direction of the fireplace, and let his hands rest on the edge of his desk on either side of his upper thighs.

"Harry," Hermione called just before he tossed a handful of floo power in, suddenly serious. "Maybe you should skim over the whole Romilda working in the inter-office mail room thing… you know what happened last time." Harry looked pained for a moment and nodded. He disappeared in to the green flames. Seconds later his head reappeared through the flames, startling to the remaining two occupants of the room.

"Hey 'Mione… about what we talked about during lunch… I know there's a lot of draw backs if things go South… but there's also a lot of good possibilities too. Just remember… we all got your back and…. if it makes you happy it makes us happy." Harry smiled gently at her, then let just as quickly as he appeared.

Bill watched the exchange in silent interest. It was easy to see the bond the two shared and how strong it was. For some strange reason watching them made him happy ad even grateful that they'd come into his family's life. He smiled softly to himself watching the wave emotion that passed over Hermione's face. Her eyes we wet with unshed tears and a broad, happy smile spread across her lips.

"Last time?" Bill asked curiously, wisely deciding to pretend he hadn't seen a thing. Hermione jumped, having obviously forgotten where she was. Quickly recovering she began to chuckle darkly at the memory, convincing him that she'd definitely been spending way too much time with Ginny.

"Oh yeah… a delivery came for you," Hermione quickly changed the subject making Bill narrow his eyes in suspicion. He watched as she quickly exited the room then reentered with a thick manila envelope in her hands. "Let me know when you're through and have a moment. I have something to talk to you about.

"May as well take a seat, this'll just take a few minutes." Bill gestured to the rest of the office vaguely as he walked around the desk to sit.

Hermione glanced around trying to decide if she wanted to sit in one of the plush leather armchairs in front of his desk or on the overstuffed maroon couch on the far side of the room facing the fireplace. Finally she opted to sit on the couch, not wanting to take from Bill's concentration as he read the thick pile of parchments from the envelope. A gentle silence filled the room, only broken by the sound of rustling parchment and the occasional scratch of a quill whenever Bill made a notation on one of the forms or another.

Finally having a few minutes of down time, and not feeling like she was trespassing in his office like last time, Hermione examined the room. There was an end table between the end of the couch and the corner of the room on which stood a small lamp. . There was a ledge at the windows that held a few picture frames, a small plant and artifacts from places around the world. Through the window was a beautiful view of the countryside, courtesy of their location at eh far corner on the back of the building as well as the added advantage of their height in the building. His desk was filled with an organized chaos. A beautiful Persian rug covered the floor, except for a few feet left bare in front of the opposite side of the room, undoubtedly due to the presence of the large fireplace. The room was filled with deep red tone and lighter, softer gold tones. They were Gryffindor colors, but mild ones, broken by older shades and colors, but mild ones broken up by other shades and tones creating a very rich but comfortable atmosphere to the room.

Bill found himself taking twice as long as normal to go through the stack of parchments. Deep down inside he knew his lack of attention was directly linked to the witch gracing his couch. However, he chose to remain in denial, telling himself he was just moving slow because it was his first day. And that's exactly the story he intended to stick to should anyone question him. In the meantime, he divided his attention between the paperwork and the woman to his left. When he finally finished he sat beck, relieved, and regarded Hermione as she examined the room.

Hermione froze, finally realizing that she hadn't heard any parchments rustling or the scratch of the quill for a minute or two now. She flushed slightly, but quickly tried to pretend it wasn't there as she turned her gaze toward Bill. Her face heated up quickly when she was met by Bill's unabashed gaze.

"There was something you wanted to talk to me about," Bill trailed off, his voice unusually low and on the softer side.

"I uh… I just wanted to explain the intercom system Harry and I put in earlier," Hermione said, quickly regaining her composure, not even sure when it'd eluded her in the first place. Mentally chastising herself, she stood and approached the desk. Bill watched her surprisingly excited to see her approach.

Hermione forced herself to ignore her proximity to Bill and to concentrate. She began to explain the magically adapted muggle system, knowing helplessly that she was babbling and her voice was just a little too high-pitched.

If anyone were to ask him was Hermione was talking about, all Bill would be able to say was that it had something to do with the funny looking box on his desk. He was actually proud of himself for being able to deduce that much. It felt like his mind had frozen completely. All thought had flown far, far away leaving him able to only let his traitorous page eyes take in Hermione as she spoke, undoubtedly taking a few snap shots to conjure up later to torture him with. She was oblivious as his gaze took in everything from her high-heeled toes peeking from beneath her dress slacks to her slick, controlled hair style. His eyes continued to dart back to lips and eyes every few seconds before continuing their perusal.

"Got it?" Hermione's voice sounded chipper.

"Absolutely," Bill confirmed, the chipper tone mixing with mild surprise just enough to prompt him to respond with immediate surety.

"Great, then I'll leave you to it," Hermione nodded and quickly exited the office and snapped the door shut, silently commending herself for maintain her composure.

Bill smacked his forehead, rested both elebows on his desk and ran his hands over his hair, messing up his ponytail a little. "What the bloody hell just happened?" He thought.

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