Chapter 16

Bill showered and dressed in record time, grateful to smell eggs and bacon cooking. He slid on his shoes and ran to the kitchen, his tie draped around his neck, to see Ginny and Harry together cooking what looked like the very promising makings of an egg and cheese sandwich, complete with a toasty croissant.

"I'm really sorry about this, I don't know why my alarm didn't go off," Bill sheepishly apologized for at least the third time since Harry half-jokingly ordered his to put some bloody clothes on and stop threatening Ginny's high opinion of his masculinity. The identical eye-rolls he'd received showed Bill had influenced his sister's sassy behavior just as much as he'd influenced the twins' playful personalities. "Jack of all trades."

"Don't worry about it, it was an accident," Harry muttered blandly, having said it so many times already. They'd moved on from their little macho moment pretty quickly… after Ginny yelled at them to grow up and stop glaring at each other – they were angry at the same person for the same reason anyway so get over it cause Hermione was waiting. "This kitchen's amazing by the way," Harry redirected the conversation with surprising skill.

"Of course it is, he's my brother," Ginny shot a teasing grin at Bill. "State of the art kitchens are a necessity for all Weasley men. Funny part is that Bill's the only one with any semblance of talent in cooking." She left Harry to put the finishing touches on the sandwich in order to help Bill who was struggling with his tie. How a grown man could still look like he was about to strangle himself while trying to tie the damn contraption she'd never know. With the quickness of hand that only came from years upon years of practice, she easily tied and straightened it and then straightened and fiddled with the rest of his suit. After pausing a moment to make sure she was completely satisfied she slid her arms around his waist and squeezed him gently, her head rested just a little too far up to nestle in the hollow of his chest. Affectionately, he hugged her back; he took a deep breath and felt some of the tension in his body melt away, just like is always did when he got to cuddle up to a loved one. Ginny smiled, both out of enjoyment and feeling her big brother relax a bit.

Harry watched silently as he subtly slipped a note in a bag along with the finished sandwich and a protein bar. He pretended to be oblivious, knowing Bill wouldn't be too happy with Harry playing witness to his carefully hidden weakness. "Maybe I'll talk to Gin about getting him a pet… 'Mione's always telling people how beneficial they are." Harry grimace remembering how many times Hermione'd ended up nagging one of them when they'd all gotten together for their 'secret' dinners. "On second thought, we definitely need to get 'Mione one. It's been years since she had Crookshanks…."

After several more thank-yous, Bill grabbed all of his stuff, inhaled the sandwich and disappeared through the fireplace, his voice muffled by the last, rather large, bite of his meal.

"It's a miracle he doesn't get sent to some far off corner of the world with how often he does that," Ginny shook her head.

"Guess the floo-system speaks garble…" Harry paused and grinned at her. "Better known as Hungry Weasley Man."

Ginny rolled her eyes, but laughed despite herself. Harry chuckled alongside her as the quickly cleaned up the kitchen for Bill so he wouldn't have to worry about it that night.

Bill stepped through to his office, half expecting to see Hermione there tapping her foot and glaring daggers at him. Instead, he was met by a quiet office which, except for the now clean desk top, looked undisturbed.

Quickly he reached into the bag from Harry, felt around, and pulled out that note the younger man had tried to slip in unnoticed. Growing up babysitting Fred and George made it pretty much impossible for someone to slip one over on him. He scanned the note, occasionally giving it the barest of nods. Fortunately for him, Harry's protective nature was enough to compel him to clue Bill in on the best way to go about making up for his faux-pas.

Hermione will NOT want to be taken from her work. She'll want to focus in
 and get the day's work done this afternoon, so don't bother trying to treat
her to lunch or giving her any extensive apologies. She'll most likely just
 not eat – she tends to forget when she gets into her work.

Take care of Grimbles first and quickly. Promise a full explanation later and
get to work and leave her to hers.

Wait as long as it takes for her to grow weary and finally call it a day.
It may not be until fairly late. Then pack her up and take her to eat. She loves
sushi. Don't take no for an answer. If she lashes out at you, which she will for
trying to boss her around – let her –YOU DESERVE IT. Push her to do it, or
 she'll just bottle it up. Apologize and explain over food.

Bill grimaced – obviously Harry wanted to be clear that helping him make things up to Hermione didn't mean he was out of the dog house. Law of Association meant that alone kept him in Ginny's too, which basically meant his whole family would be some form of pissed or, in his mother and father's case, disappointed in him. Only thing worse – he was probably more pissed and disappointed with himself than his entire family combined.

Hermione interlocked her hands and raised her arms over her head, leaning back and arching her spine back to extend to stretch as far as she could. She winced with each painful pop as she attempted to realign it and relieve some of the tension in the muscles. Quickly she returned to the cringe-worth posture her body had been locked in for the better part of the day as she powered through her own and Bill's work, jumping intermitted from one to the other. Bill's was finished until the next day, but she and Grimbles were continuing so they could afford him as much of a head-start they could in case he was sick or had to go back and fix anything. Hers was nearly finished too, save for writing an advertisement for a housekeeper for Bill and sending it to all the local papers.

The forgotten door behind their desks suddenly flew open and bounced off the wall with a violent bang. The room's lone two occupants, shocked by the sudden break in their extensive silence, jumped in their seats. Grimbles gasped, caught mid-sip of his Merlin-only-knows-how-many cup of coffee, successfully causing the beverage to spurt out, primarily through his long, thin nose, while choking. At the same time, Hermione's hand jerked across the parchment, her wrist instinctively locking itself in just the right position to leave to quill tip barely millimeters from the parchment, which was spared an ugly black gash of ink. For a split second she was grateful her friends in school used to make a hobby of sneaking up on her, causing her to create the useful reflex. Next to her, Grimbles was recovering and staring contemplatively at his overly sweetened, and now slightly Goblin-booger flavored, beverage. The whole process took mere seconds, and in perfect unison they both whirled around to see Bill stride through the doorway, smooth and impressive as ever.

"Damn, over-did it!" Bill thought as he strode through. His thoughts didn't reflect through to his face, which remained passive as ever, further inspiring the confused looks of awe on his co-workers faces. "… Hey," He murmured after allowing the shocked silence to continue another moment. "Merlin I suck," he thought, processing what the others heard as nonchalance as incredibly lame sounding. He quickly thought back to Harry's note and was spurred into action. "I'm sorry about all of this, I can't thank either of you enough," his apology and gratitude audible in his voice as he moved towards Grimbles; it was obvious taking care of him came first and foremost regardless of Harry's instructions. He placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and performed a quick, rudimentary medical scan while distracting him with gently spoken pleasantries in Goblin. The caffeine and sugar were wreaking havoc on his little body – something neither common nor unusual for Goblins. Continuing to speak softly he carefully chose his words as he told Grimbles it was time to go home. His hand never left his shoulder as he lightly steered Grimbles away while he began to magically filter the caffeine and sugar from his blood, much like how a human liver filter's alcohol, which (if the lack of any argument was any indication), mixed with his sudden appearance, seemed to have the goblin still in a mild stupor. "Be right back," he promised Hermione over his shoulder and exited toward the fireplace nearly as quickly as he appeared from it.

Throughout their trip, Bill maintained constant physical contact with Grimbles, speeding up the filtration process knowing that the less sugar and caffeine there was left, the more uncomfortable the process would be for Grimbles. They stepped through to Grimbles' kitchen; Bill was forced to stoop under the low ceiling which, though luxuriously high to Goblins, was at least a good foot and a half lower than his own six-foot-three frame.

"Come on, let's get you in bed," Bill's large hand now rested in the middle of Grimbles' upper back, just below the base of his neck where he could slowly administer some pain relief to the headache that was undoubtedly forming while continuing the filtration. He began to walk forward, gently propelling Grimbles into the house.

"I don't think its… me whose… the one that you meant to… mean to say at," Grimbles voice was low and gravelly and his words more than just slightly slurred and nonsensical as he ran head-long into the proverbial wall and bounced off it when his blood reached just the right level of purity to experience that strange mixture of feeling the worst effects of being terribly hung-over and drunk at the same time, just as Bill anticipated. Over exhaustion did nothing to help, only increasing the pain, discomfort, lack of coherency and just plan crabby attitude.

"Really Grimbles, mind your manners. Bill was kind enough to bring you home – try and show some appreciation," a soft, high-pitched voice gently reprimanded Grimbles from the door.

"No, it's my fault this happened anyway," Bill quickly assured the pretty black dwarf by way of defending his friend. She smiled broadly at him, her straight, white teeth stood out against the dark red lipstick spread across her lush lips and her gorgeous, blemish free skin. There was no perfect way to describe her skin tone – it was neither light nor dark and paired with her big, dark eyes fringed with long lashes that kissed her high cheek bones with every blink, it was easy to see what made the model in such high demand. She had let her dark hair grow out naturally, and kept it just a tad on the long side, which she now held controlled with a headscarf whose beautiful traditional print matched the gorgeous one-strapped dress she wore. Altogether, she looked like nothing short of an African Goddess.

"Don't you worry yourself a moment Bill. Grimbles wrote me earlier," the gentle, chastising tone was now aimed at him. Mixed with the sweet smile she sent him, it left him feeling slightly abashed and thoroughly charmed. "Let's get him to bed; he'll be much less grumpy after he's slept."

Bill grinned as she turned and walked away, the possibility that either man wouldn't obey her obviously never once crossing her mind. Her constant stream of chatter about Bill's general well-being and general references to the current events of his life were filled with pride and affection and went unbroken, never once giving Bill a chance to respond. It was never hard to see why Grimbles had fallen so hard for her, and never seemed to bother to get back up. Good thing too – Bill didn't know what he would have done if his friend let someone so amazing get away from him.

Carefully, Bill half-steered Grimbles through the halls of the homely house, following the chatter and soft patter of footsteps ahead of them , having visited enough times to know the décor perfectly suited the couple and sentimental items were out, proudly on display. Once in the bedroom, Bill deposited his friend on the edge of the bed and was rewarded with a squeeze on the arm and thankful gleam in Grimbles' eyes.

"I'll leave him in your capable hands Rosenwyn," Bill knew a hasty retreat would be best so Grimbles could get to sleep and he could get back to Hermione. Rosenwyn followed him back the way they'd come, using seeing him out as an excuse to give Grimbles a chance to get settled into bed.

"Thank you for bringing him home," she smiled up at him as they neared the fireplace.

"I'm just so sorry to have caused so much trouble. I…" Rosenwyn rested her hand on his arm and cut him off.

"You don't need to apologize or explain yourself," she said firmly. "You're our best friend and you'd never treat us as anything less. There never been a doubt we could always count of you – just try and remember that it's a two way street."

Bill fought down the sudden rise of emotions. Grimbles and Rosenwyn hadn't had it easy throughout their lives, so for her to speak so openly of their friendship was more than just a reminder they were there for him. He bent, gently pecked her cheek and whispered, because he didn't trust his voice to speak any louder, "I'll arrange the next few nights off with pay… and overtime for today.

After a promise to visit them properly in the near future, Bill stepped into the fireplace. He was whisked away with the final sight of Rosenwyn shooting him a grin over her shoulder as she left the room, and the parting thought that his confrontation with Hermione was probably going to be much more difficult.

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