Bill
.
Bill Weasley had always intimidated her, even before the scar that marked his face and reminded everyone of his role in the war. In all the time she had lived with the Weasleys, there had been very few times he had spoken to her, but not because he disliked her or anything of the sort. Ginny had always said that he was the most reserved of the siblings, and that he rarely let himself go. Hermione remembered to this day the first time she had seen him at an Order meeting at Sirius' old house, and she distinctly remembered feeling her stomach turn when her body crashed into his as she walked distractedly through the old mansion. She remembered looking up to find very blue eyes and an unshaven red beard. She remembered that he had given her a friendly smile and apologised. On that occasion, Hermione hadn't even been able to open her mouth. After years of living with the twins and Ron, Hermione certainly hadn't expected one of the older brothers to be so handsome, and she certainly hadn't expected any older man other than her best friend's godfather to make her heart soar like that.
During their time at Sirius' house, Hermione secretly cultivated a crush on Harry's godfather. Nothing much, she just admired him, thought he was very handsome, and hoped that in the future she would find a man like him. The future came, and she couldn't find a man who looked anything like Sirius. And Sirius was dead.
After the war, she got into a relationship with Ron, which ended in the very first year when she decided to resume her studies at Hogwarts. When she joined the Ministry, she had the opportunity to take part in the meeting that would later be decisive for her life: with the losses of the war, the Ministry instituted a Marriage Act, which obliged all the witches to form a union and repopulate the wizardly community. The Department in charge stressed the need for everything to happen as quickly as possible and that muggleborn wizards should, without fail, unite with pure-blood wizards, and vice-versa. According to the gang of men present in the room, that way it was more certain that the children born would be magical. The law also foresaw that witches who did not comply would be expelled from the magical community and would have to hand in their wands.
"This is absurd!" Hermione remembered knocking on the table, causing all eyes to turn towards her. "We can't take away the choice of the wizards in our community! Records show that even the union of pureblood wizards does not guarantee the perpetuation of magical blood. Pureblood families also have squibs, for example. And expelling wizards when we are justly in need of more?"
She didn't share her fear of what pureblood wizards would do with muggleborn witches like her in this sort of union. It sent shivers through her spine, so she just said what she thought would be enough to convince that room full of old men. After much discussion, Hermione had won her first big task: to draw up a list of vetoes and amendments to the Marriage Bill. As always, the girl plunged headlong into the existing books, records and research and, with the vote of most parliamentarians, managed to make the law more flexible: there would not be an imposition of blood status to the marriage. She also managed to get the deadline extended so that everyone would have until the age of 30 to have their first child in the magical world. However, she could not dissuade the Council from expelling wizards who did not comply with the Law.
Her participation in the issue of the said Act gave the brunette notoriety within the Ministry. Of course, everyone knew of her role in the war, just as they knew of her record as an exemplary student at Hogwarts, but this prominence in the Ministry placed her in high regard with the Council and with Shacklebolt, the current Minister until further election.
On her second year at the Ministry, Hermione arrived at The Burrow and spotted Ron in bed with another woman. Hermione, of course, fought with Ron and returned to her flat in a rage. However, strangely enough, she realised that she wasn't shaken by the fact that Ron had another woman, she had just felt humiliated. Since the war, the two had barely seen each other and rarely had sex, she was overworked and had high aspirations for her future in politics, while Ron seemed willing to live life in a less regimented way.
Ron had not even left his parents' house! The bitter truth was that the redhead had no space in her life.
In the intervening years, Hermione had carved out a brilliant career and was tipped to be the first female British Minister. So it was with surprise that she received a suspension notice and had to go to Shacklebolt's office after receiving a memo.
"Miss Granger, your record within the Ministry is impeccable, and your services during the war undeniable" the man spoke, his eyes fixed on Hermione, while his hands held firmly a dossier with the chestnut's information. "However, the main problem is this: you are still Miss Granger".
"I'm not sure I understand" she replied, blinking several times. My curriculum is impeccable, you said so yourself, I don't understand why I am being suspended".
"I'll be very honest with you, Hermione, because we've known each other for a long time and fought side by side", the man sighed, dropping the papers on the table and getting up from his chair. "If my mathematics serves me right, a document should be in this file, and it's not".
"What document?" Hermione asked worriedly and went to the desk, almost running over Shacklebolt on the way, and started to leaf through the large folder of information about herself.
"A Marriage Certificate".
Hermione dropped the papers on the table again and stared at the Minister in disbelief.
"What? I... I thought... I'm on the shortlist for Minister!"
"That's something else", Shacklebolt replied calmly, "The Council has decided to make my position permanent until the next candidate is old enough to take over. You are very young and have a lot to prove yet. And we don't want a Minister against the law, do we? You need to get married, Hermione. You have less than three years to hold your first child in your arms. The consequences, unfortunately, apply to you as well".
"So I'm being suspended from work for not getting married?", her eyes narrowed towards the Minister. "You said yourself I still have three years left".
"Less than three years. And you're being suspended for a good reason", he smiled at her quietly. "hink of these weeks away Tas an opportunity to meet a good wizard and form a marriage".
"You've got to be kidding me".
"Here is your signed suspension" he held out a piece of paper to her, and sat back in the swivel chair behind the oak desk. "Now, if you will excuse me Miss Granger, I have work to do. You may leave your desk as it is".
"Unbelievable!", Hermione huffed, angrily picking up her bag and leaving Shackebolt's room.
The brunette paced down the hall, huffing angrily, and shouted for them to hold the lift. As she crossed the double lift door, she bumped into a soaked Bill Weasley, dripping water all over the place. She stopped next to him and, realising they weren't moving, stepped forward and pressed the lobby button angrily. She turned back and huffed, crossing her arms.
"I'm glad you're having a great day, Miss Granger", Bill exclaimed debauchedly. He rarely spoke to her, although they crossed paths in the corridors a few times. Hermione looked him up and down, her eyes narrowed in anger.
"Look who's talking", she replied, pointing to his soaked jacket.
"Ouch", he commented in between teeth, raising his eyebrows and putting his hands inside his pockets. He stared at the lift door. Hermione sighed.
"Sorry", she asked sincerely, looking at him. "This hasn't been a good day for me".
Bill shrugged and the movement caused a lock of his hair to fall over his eyes. He took one hand out of his pocket and brushed his hair back with his fingers.
"It's okay", he replied, smiling understandingly at her. "It's been a few years since my days were great, too".
And it was true. Bill and Fleur had split up, which had caused quite a scandal at the time. In theory, magical marriages were supposed to last forever, because generally people married either for love or to perpetuate the pure bloodline. Bill and Fleur loved each other, but as it turned out, Fleur's love lasted less than Bill's. She filed for divorce and returned to France a year after the war. Even their magical bond was broken. Hermione had a vague memory of Mrs. Weasley crying in the kitchen and telling anyone who would listen that she had "already warned that veela wasn't good enough" for her son.
Hermione also remembered when Ginny had commented that Bill had moved into a flat near the Ministry and was decorating their daughter's room, since he had learned that Fleur was pregnant a few months after the two had separated. Bill was willing to keep in touch with his daughter as much as he could, even though he was no longer married. However, it was later discovered that Victoire was not Bill's daughter, and it was from then on that he got back smoking, much to the dismay of Mrs. Weasley, who hated the smell of tobacco on her son's clothes and hair.
This second scandal, the one about the child, did not come to light thanks to Bill's discretion, who rarely integrated the people around him of the events of his personal life. And, unlike marriages, cheating wives and births outside English territory were not filed in the Ministry's folders.
Hermione didn't have time to answer anything. The lift opened and Bill walked out the door, bidding the witch a simple goodbye.
.
The first two days at home were unbearable for Hermione. The girl, who was used to always having thousands of things to deal with every day, found herself with nothing to do. She began to organise the house obsessively and even printed new labels – muggle way - to recatalogue all her books.
On Wednesday, Ginny sent her a letter inviting her to dinner at The Burrow on Saturday. It would be James Sirius' birthday and the whole family would be there. Hermione and Ron were the godparents and therefore should attend. Hermione didn't know whether to be happy or anxious. She would finally have a reason to get out of the house and do something different, but she also knew that the news of her suspension should have been out there by now and that everyone probably knew why.
In truth, Mrs Weasley, Ginny and Angelina - who was married to George - had been commenting on Hermione's singlehood for years, and she was aware of it. But, so far, she didn't care much. So far, she believed that being in the line of succession for Minister would be reason enough for the Law not to apply to her. Such an arrogant thought.
Sighing in frustration, she spent the rest of the day looking through records of unmarried wizards that might spark the slightest interest in her. As she flipped through the photo album of her former Hogwarts classmates in search of a possible husband, her frustration grew more and more.
"I swear to Merlin that if Sirius were alive I would ask him to marry me without a second thought", Hermione spoke to herself. "So what if he'd be older? I bet he would still be handsome and charming the same way".
.
When Friday arrived, Hermione was one of the first guests to arrive at The Burrow. Harry and Ginny greeted her with excitement, as did her godson. Albus Severus was on Molly's lap and Mr. Weasley was chatting animatedly with George and Angelina. It wasn't long before Ron arrived accompanied by Luna, with whom he had become involved long after his breakup with Hermione. The witch was happy to see that the red-haired man had finally found the love of his life and that Luna had managed to do what she had been unable to do: take Ronald Weasley out of his parents' house and become an adult.
Harry called Hermione over in the corner to offer her a glass of Firewhisky.
"I'm really sorry about your suspension", her best friend said, running his hand over her shoulder in a gesture of comfort. "It's really unfair for you to be pressured like this".
"I wasn't really pressured, was I?" she replied, sipping her drink and shrugging. "I've put that aside for many years, clinging to the possibility that I wouldn't have to respect the law because I was tipped to be a future Minister. I'm the one who let myself be fooled, Harry".
"What do you intend to do?", Harry asked. "Who do you have in mind?"
"Honestly?", she replied sighing defeatedly. "I have no idea. For years I've only lived with you guys, it never crossed my mind to have a relationship with someone from the outside. Now I have to run against time and meet someone..."
"I DON'T WANT THIS THING IN MY HOUSE!" Molly shouted, interrupting Hermione, who turned back only to see an angry Mrs. Weasley cross the room and, with a wave of her wand, explode a cigarette that was lit in the hand of a Bill Weasley in the doorway.
"By Merlin, woman", the older Weasley replied incredulously. "It's only a cigarette".
"Just a cigarette?", Molly replied, putting her hands on her waist, which drew a giggle from Charles, who was accompanying his older brother. "It's poison, and this is a child's birthday".
Bill shrugged and, like a criminal caught in the act by the police, slowly pulled the cigarette packet from his inside jacket pocket and dropped it in the trash by the front door. Then he raised both hands in a sign of yielding to Mrs. Weasley, who, convinced, let him into the house. The scene drew a smile from Hermione.
As usual, Hermione and Bill stood on opposite sides of the room. The older Weasley was very close to Charles, so the two of them almost always stayed together at family dinners to catch up. Bill was a curse-breaker now working at the Ministry and Charles was still tending dragons in Romania, so the two of them would chat about dark magic in Eastern Europe for hours on end. Hermione, on the other hand, almost always stayed together with Harry, Ginny and George. George had become a close friend after Fred's death, and Hermione used to go to the shop on her break from work and took the opportunity to have lunch with him and Harry at least twice a week.
Mrs. Weasley, completely ignoring Ginny's plans, had cooked a completely unnecessary bountiful dinner, which caused the younger redhead to have to cut down on the amount of snacks she had prepared. According to Ginny, the idea was for everyone to eat only snacks, drink and chat in the living room while the children played. However, plans were foiled and everyone ate more than they were anticipating sitting at the dinner table. The children remained at a separate table and were visibly enjoying themselves. Teddy was changing the colour of his hair exactly as his mother used to do, eliciting giggles from James and Roxanne, George's daughter.
During dinner, Hermione set herself to looking at Bill. He had changed very little since they first met. The redhead kept his jovial air, his hair was almost shoulder length and his unshaven beard partially hid the scar on his face. The brownhaired girl watched carefully as his hair fell across his face, causing him to constantly flick it back with his fingers. She watched how he smiled when he was near Mr. Weasley and Charles, how his lips were redder than normal, how his shoulders looked broad inside that dragon leather jacket, and how he seemed to have aged absolutely nothing in the last decade.
Hermione was so engrossed in Bill that she was startled when he stared at her with those blue eyes, as if he knew she'd been looking at him this whole time. Her stomach did a somersault. She held his gaze for a long time, trying not to give away the fact that she was nervous and had been hypnotized by him for the last few minutes. She waited for him to look away, but he didn't, and then, feeling her cheeks warm, she turned her eyes from his to her plate. At that moment, a crazy thought crossed her mind.
Once dinner was over, everyone headed to the living room and set about drinking and engaging in animated topics about quidditch, the success of George's shop, and Ron and Harry's latest mission. Ron asked for everyone's attention and announced, with his wine glass raised, that Luna was pregnant. The whole room erupted in clapping and congratulations and Hermione felt lost amidst that racket. The chestnut waited for everyone to greet the couple and repeated the gesture.
"I'm really very happy for you, Ron!" she said, quite sincerely, as she hugged her friend. She noticed that Bill was staring at her curiously and quickly looked away from him, letting go of Ron and hugging Luna in congratulations.
When she let go of Luna, she saw out of the corner of her eye that Bill had gone out into the yard and decided to follow the older redhead. Her heart palpitated in a strange way, and she took a deep breath to get courage. When she reached the patio, she saw the red-haired man smoking a cigarette and looking up at the balcony pilaster.
"I thought you had put the cigarettes out" she commented, walking over to him.
"That pack was empty" he replied amusedly. "The full one was in my pocket the whole time".
Hermione laughed and walked closer to him, leaning on the pillar beside him.
"Can I have one?" she asked, and he stared at her, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
"Hermione Granger smoking?"
"I've had a shit week, I think I deserve a smoke" she shrugged, and he took a cigarette from his pack and offered it to her. As soon as she put the tobacco between her lips, Bill leaned towards her and lit the cigarette with his wand.
"I'm sorry you got suspended" he said, turning to face her and putting one hand in his pocket while the other remained on the cigarette.
"Does everyone know already?" she asked.
"Well..." he pulled the air between his teeth, making a hissing noise. "Yes?"
"How can I be too young to be Minister and too old to get a husband in my own time?" she asked angrily, swallowing her cigarette smoke hard. Bill chuckled.
"You're not too old" he said, smiling. "You're just coming up to the age limit the Ministry has set".
"You're only calm because no one's charging you to get pregnant" she answered sighing, taking the hand that held the cigarette between her index and middle finger to her face, pressing her temple. "You're older than me, so why don't you have to get married?"
"Because I already got married", he answered calmly and brought the cigarette to his lips again, pulling the smoke in. "It didn't work out and the daughter wasn't mine, but I did".
Hermione felt bad for the comment, took a last drag and threw the cigarette halfway to the ground, putting it out with her shoe. She crossed her arms in front of her body and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Bill" she asked, embarrassed.
"You don't have to apologize", he answered, repeating Hermione's gesture and putting out the cigarette. "It's been years, I'm tired of everyone pretending this never happened just to try to spare me".
"Why have you never tried to engage to someone after everything?" she asked interested. Bill was handsome, had a good family and a good job. Hermione could see how all the women, even the married ones, looked at him at the Ministry. If, in the old days, being scarred by a werewolf was a cause for repulsion, in Bill's case it could be said that the scar gave him an air of mystery and danger that women loved. She couldn't understand how he was still single.
"I've never found anyone very interesting" he replied, looking at her seriously and causing the woman to look away from him and focus her attention on the details of the wood of the pillar he was leaning against. "Why? Do you want me to marry you?"
"What?" she asked, nervous as she realized that he was smiling mischievously at her. "You're being absurd".
"I know you were thinking of asking me to marry you" he replied, smiling unpretentiously, and moved a little closer to her. "Are you cold?"
She didn't understand at first, until she saw him pointing his index finger at her arms, which were crossed and with goose bumps. She realized, only at that moment, that she was cold and chilled.
"A little" she confessed, and he took off his jacket and held it out to her, who accepted it. She felt something strange stirring in her lower abdomen when she put the dragon-leather jacket on and felt it warm from Bill's body heat.
"So..." he began, suddenly hesitant. "Am I wrong?"
"Would that be so awkward?" she asked, pulling the jacket over herself and trying to keep her eyes as far away from Bill's as possible.
"Why me?" he asked. And she finally stared at him.
"Because you're the only person I know who's still available" she said, hoping he wouldn't catch on to her lie. He wasn't the only person she knew who was available; there were dozens of her former classmates who were still single. But Bill was the only one she could imagine herself marrying, out of the options. She remembered that as a teenager, she wished she could find a man like Sirius Black. She also remembered that the only man to make the butterflies in her stomach jump, besides Sirius, was Bill. Her cheeks flamed.
"You don't know me that well" he replied, stepping back and descending two steps from the balcony. When he did, he pulled Hermione forward by the waist, so that the two of them remained close, but now with their faces at the same height.
"What do you mean?" she asked, feeling her whole face very hot.
"I was marked by a werewolf, Hermione" he said, seeming to be amused by her nervousness.
"And? You didn't become a werewolf".
"Yes, but I have needs" he replied, smiling, teasing her. "On full moons I have needs that I need to fulfill, and any woman who shares my life should be aware of that".
Hermione felt her heart almost burst open when she understood what he was talking about and pressed her thighs against each other. Bill let out a low chuckle, and Hermione knew that he had probably noticed.
"I'll marry you, Hermione" he pointed out. "But I'm going to give you some time to think about this condition I just presented to you".
Bill brought his face close to hers and very slowly planted a kiss on her cheek. Hermione knew that he was trying to disconcert her.
"You can keep the jacket" he said finally. "You can give it back to me when you decide what you want to do. Can you let them know I'm gone?"
"How did you know I wanted to ask you that?" she asked, before he could get too far away. Bill turned to her.
"I didn't know", he replied laughing, turned away and disappeared. "I was just fishing".
Bill Weasley had always intimidated her, and at that moment nothing had been different. Nothing, apart from the fact that Hermione was seriously considering marrying him.