I was signing off when I received the news, and it felt like the ground had suddenly caved under my feet. Steading myself I glanced around my office for my portable healer's kit. Picking it up I apparated quickly to Shell Cottage, feeling the wards give way to me instantly.

The feel of being allowed into the cottage instantly brought back the horrible memory of when I had been caught in the middle of a fight between Fleur and Bill about whether or not I should be allowed so easily into the cottage. Removing the thought from my head when my feet touched the ground, I looked around to see Molly running out towards me, her relief obvious at the sight of me. My eyes moved from Molly to look around the cottage, trying to find any sign of him.

"Where is he Molly?" I asked as the older witch clutched to my arm as if she needed the physical support.

"He's in his room," She said as she straightened up.

Molly didn't wait a second, she led me up the stairs and straight towards his room. Opening the door to his room I walked inside and found him lying down on the bed, asleep. At the sound of the soft call of my name I looked over my shoulder at Molly as she stood in the door of his room, eyes focused on her son.

"Fleur left," She whispered quietly, trying not to wake him up.

"Phlegm left him?" I asked outraged. "Why?"

"She took one look at him, at the scars and left." Walking into the room she set a hand onto my shoulder. We both stood looking down at Bill as he slept. Merlin, the one time I couldn't come along. "He's all alone now."

"No he's not. He's still got me."

"Good." She turned away from looking at her son to look me in the eyes. Her eyes showed just how worried she was. "He's already lost his fiancée. I don't think that he'll be able to cope if he lost his best friend as well."

"I'd never leave him Molly," I promised her but I saw the fear in her eyes. She was scared for Bill and how he'd cope but she had no reason to worry. From the very first time I had set foot in Hogwarts, Bill and I had been attached at the hips and nothing had managed to change that. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Good." Letting out a slight sigh, she dug into the pocket of her cardigan and pulled out her hand. Opening her palm up, she showed me Phlegm's engagement ring. "Give it back to him for me."

I nodded as I reached over to pick up the ring. Pocketing the ring I watched Molly as she left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Approaching the bed I placed my healer's kit on the bed, purposefully keeping my eyes off of him for as long as possible. But it was inevitable that I would look at him. My breath caught when I saw the scars on his face. I remembered what the patronus had told me. Werewolf. He'd been attacked by a werewolf.

He was still unconscious and I pulled the ring out of the pocket, setting it onto his bedside table. Sitting on the edge of the bed I brushed some of his hair gently off from his forehand, watching it crease in pain as I traced his scars with my fingers. I needed to relieve him of his pain quickly.

Opening my healer's kit with a swish of my wand, I set to work by pulling my hair into a messy bun at the top of my head. Rising from the bed, I diluted a cleansing potion to clean his wounds. Dipping a cotton pad into the potion I cleaned his wounds as quickly and as gently as I could to cause him as little pain as possible. Finding the correct paste, I healed the wounds completely in order to speed up the scarring, and eventual healing process.

Gathering all of my things I picked out a small pain potion and set it onto his desk for him to take when he woke up. Closing the healer's kit I picked it up and turned to leave the room so that he could continue to sleep in peace. I was at the door when I heard him groan in pain. Pausing at the sound I looked back at him as he sat up on the bed, leaning against the headboard.

He looked around the room and tried to give me a weak smile when he saw me, the motion pulled at his wounds. He winced and I walked back to his side, snagging the pain potion from the bedside. His eyes followed my movement and froze, eyes settling onto the discarded ring. I remained silent, knowing that he wouldn't need or want my words. Uncorking the potion I held it out for him to take.

Taking the potion from me, he tipped his head back and downed the entire thing. When he handed me the bottle back I noticed that the wrinkles from his eyes had smoothed out when the pain had disappeared. He met my eyes and I swallowed slightly, the pain potion could do nothing about the pain in them. I took the empty vial and threw it in the bin before returning to his side.

"She left me." He didn't want a response so I didn't give him one. Instead he reached out to grab my arm to pull me down to sit beside him. He sighed, running a hand through his hair and I patted his thigh gently, unsure of what else to do. "I was attacked by a werewolf. Does that mean that I'm going to transform into one as well?"

"No you won't. You won't get any hairier than you are now," I paused eyeing his long hair. "Though I doubt that it's possible for you to get any hairier than you are now." I was rewarded with a small smile. "Now you need to rest for a while and don't even think about going into work tomorrow, alright?"

He met my eyes and quirked an eyebrow at me. "Healer's orders?"

"Healer's orders." I confirmed, standing up from his bed.

Pressing a kiss to his cheek before I turned to leave I shut the door quietly behind me. When I made my way down the stairs I found Molly waiting for me.

"How is he?"

"He should be alright Molly," I assured her, "It's important that he gives himself time to heal properly and that means not going into work or getting so involved in a case that he skips meals."

"So basically he's under my watch then?"

I smiled at her, "I knew you were a smart woman."

*************

Finishing my shift for the day I apparated out of the hospital but I didn't head home yet. Instead, I apparated into Shell Cottage and made my way into the kitchen. Glancing at the clock mounted on the wall I knew that Bill would currently be in the shower. He was a creature of habit and according to Molly he had gotten into the habit of not eating - simply because he couldn't be bothered to make something. Molly tried to come around to the cottage to cook for Bill but she had many other things to worry about.

Looking away from the clock I started to cook, pulling ingredients out of the fridge that I had fully stocked just last night. Shrugging out of my coat I draped it over the back of a chair and tied up my hair. Right, he needed something hearty, something that would help maintain his weight.

I started to peel the vegetables, when I heard the shower switch off. Right, I didn't have left. Speeding up, I switched the stove on and continued to cook. Once I had finished cooking, I let out a deep breath; I'd managed to finish in time. Lading some of the soup into a bowl, I made my way to the table and put the bowl on the table. Putting the remaining soup into a container, I left it aside to cool. Bill could reheat the soup whenever he wanted it.

Casting a warming charm over the bowl, I picked up my coat and prepared to leave when I heard footsteps padding down the stairs. Bill walked into the kitchen before I could try to apparate out of the cottage. His eyebrows rose at the sight of me.

"So you're the one that cooks for me and just evaporates into thin air then?" he asked as he made his way towards me, helping me out of my coat before I could protest. "I already knew it wasn't mum because she'd stick round to baby me more and I had an inkling that it might have been you."

"I left work a little late today," I explained, watching him move around the kitchen. He spooned some soup into another bowl and brought it back to the table. He brought two sets of cutlery to the table. "That's why I couldn't leave before you came down today Bill."

"No one told you that you needed to leave," he responded, pulling out a chair. He motioned for me to sit down. I tried to refuse but he gave me a look, silencing me before I could say anything. With a sigh, I settled down and let him push the chair in.

"I just thought you'd need some space," I explained as he walked around the table to sit across from me.

"And why would I need some space? Especially from you?"

I stared at him, unable to answer his question. Bill, not seeing the way I was looking at him, started to eat and I watched him curiously. I wasn't sure how to progress. He glanced up curiously and raised an eyebrow at me.

"Are you not hungry?"

"Oh, no I am," I said quietly before I started to eat.

"You know," Bill started slowly, "I wouldn't mind having my best friend around more often. It's like you've gone out of your way to avoid me. Mum says that you pop round once a day to check up on me but you disappear before I can see you."

"I just wanted to give you space," I repeated gently.

"Well don't do that." He looked up with a cheeky grin, "Smother me in your company if that's what you really want."

**********

"Are you on your break?"

I looked up at the sound of the familiar voice and smiled when I saw Bill standing in the doorway of my office. "I was actually just going to head out for lunch."

"Can I join you?" He leaned against the doorframe.

"Even if I said no you'd still tag along with me anyway." Pushing away from the desk I frowned up at Bill. "Didn't I tell you to stay in bed? How did you managed to get past your mother's line of security anyway?"

Rising to my feet, I walked over to my coat and shrugged into it, looking at him for an answer. He shrugged, "Mum was fairly lenient about letting me out when she heard that it was you that I was coming to see."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I thought I told you not to strain yourself.

Rolling his eyes, he wrapped his arm around my waist to prepare for apparition. "Taking my best friend out for lunch is hardly straining myself, now is it?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say Weasley."

I closed my eyes as he apparated us away and I wondered whether I would ever get used to the sensation. Looking up at the sign of the restaurant that we had appeared in front of, I allowed Bill to lead me into the building and then to a booth in the corner of the room. He let me slide in first before coming in after me, sitting beside me so our thighs pressed together.

Watching Bill as he gave our order I couldn't help but smile. I had believed that he would take everything a lot harder but leave it to Bill Weasley to show me that there was always something about him that I didn't know. He wasn't the type of person to let some scars turn him into a recluse.

When our dessert was placed onto the table before us I looked up at Bill. "Alright spill it Weasley. What exactly is it that you want?"

"What?" He looked away from me, "I can't treat my best friend without needing something?"

"You can but I've known you for too long and I know you too well to believe that you would." I paused when he pushed a piece of chocolate cake towards me. He was trying to butter me up for something. I raised an eyebrow, unconvinced by his insistence that he wasn't after anything.

Taking the piece of chocolate cake, I picked up my fork and broke off a bite. "Move in with me?"

"Excuse me?" I asked once I'd swallowed. "Did I just hear you correctly?"

"Do you remember when we first left Hogwarts and we moved in together?" He slipped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it once. "Come on, it'll be like the good old times."

"I remember," I muttered. Just like old times - just like before phlegm. "You know what, why not?"

I hugged him close to me for a second.

"Fleur." I froze as I heard Bill call her name and hurried to untangle myself from his grip.

Pulling back fully I looked at the quarter veela that was standing before us. She looked down at me her eyes flashing dangerously as she looked between the two of us. I cleared my throat awkwardly when I noticed the cool way that Bill was watching the woman.

"William, it could be considered to be dangerous or even cheating to be seen hugging another woman in front of your fiancée." She crossed her arms.

"Fiancée?" he asked, looking up at her in confusion. "I thought you stopped being my fiancée when you left the ring at my house."

"That was my mistake," she admitted slowly, leaning over the table to trail her hand down his arm. I stiffened when I realised what she was doing; she was trying to use her veela appeal on him. Bill gripped my hand under the table and moved it to sit on his thigh as he rubbed the back of it with his thumb. He was trying to remain rooted against her appeal. "Take me back."

"I have no interest in marrying someone who was shallow enough to leave me for a few scars." He spoke firmly as he rose to his feet.

Once he was standing he offered his hand to me. I took his hand silently and rose to my feet as well. I retracted my hand slowly as I felt phlegm's gaze burn into the two connected hands. When my hand left his, Bill took my hand anyway and pulled me to his side. Bill had dragged me out of work for food, not to get involved in a confrontation between him and his ex-fiancée.

"It's because of her, isn't it?" She demanded. "Even when we were engaged she had her claws dug into you - hanging onto you when she shouldn't have been, turning up whenever she wasn't invited."

"Fleur, that's enough. And for the comment about her being uninvited - she was only uninvited in your eyes. But in mine? Well if she hadn't have been there then I would have had no reason to be there either."

He certainly had the Weasley gene for being dramatic.

***********

Only when I started living with Bill again did I remember the downsides of it. Firstly, the man could not cook to save his life. The first time that I had tasted his cooking I had suffered such a huge shock; Molly was an amazing cook but it was obvious that that characteristic didn't pass onto her eldest son. So, we had quickly come to the conclusion that Bill was to stay as far away from the kitchen as possible. Or rather I was the only one allowed to actually cook, but Bill was to help.

Only, Bill had this habit of disappearing whenever I mentioned that agreement.

This morning was another example, we both had a later start today and so we had risen later than we normally did. I had freshened up and made my way to the kitchen, my stomach rumbling in protest to the lack of food.

I started to make breakfast, preparing to make Bill's favourite. He was always so easy to butter up. If I fed him well then he'd be more likely to run some errands for me which, frankly, I could have run myself but I was too lazy to do myself. Especially because I would have to go to work right after I had finished the errands.

"Bill!" I shouted, heaving heard him pad down the stairs, "Don't think that I don't know what you're doing. Don't expect me to keep cooking for you if you're not going to start helping me out." When I heard his footsteps in the kitchen and turned to look at him over my shoulder instantly wishing that I hadn't. A flush crept up my neck and I turned back around to hide the blush. "Really Bill, would it kill you to put a shirt on?"

"Oh you love it really," he muttered, wrapping his arm around my waist and hugging me from behind. "Besides, you never complained about it before."

Elbowing him in the gut, I rolled my eyes when he laughed but didn't let go of me. "Seriously, put on a shirt!"

Removing his hands from my waist, he settled them on my hips for a moment before he pushed away from me to leave the room. He was gone for a few minutes when someone called my name. At the sound of the voice, I jumped and grabbed my wand, instinctively pointing it at the person. I lowered my wand instantly when I saw that it was Molly, smiling apologetically at her.

"Can I talk to you?" She asked walking into the kitchen.

"Of course you can," I said as I offered her a seat. "Do you want some breakfast?

"Oh no dear, I'd hate to intrude." She protested as she sat down.

"You're not intruding," I insisted as I set about making her a mug of tea just the way I knew she liked it. Once it was done I set a plate of food down in front of her. Sitting down across from her, I wrapped my hand around my own mug of tea. "What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"You're relationship with Bill." When she saw my furrowed eyebrow, she reached across the table to pat my hand gently. "There's no need to look so worried my dear. I approve of the two of you completely. He needs a girl just like you."

"No Molly," I said quietly, hearing Bill's movement in the next room. "You've misunderstood our relationship completely. There's nothing going on between us. At all."

She made no response, except for a knowing look she sent my way as Bill walked into the kitchen. Bill paused at the sight of his mother and sent me a look. Rising from my chair I fixed Bill a plate of food and set it down for him in the seat beside his mother.

"Mum, how have you been?" He asked as he walked over to her and pressed a kiss to her forehead before sitting down. The look he gave me was obviously asking me why she was here. I shrugged before looking away from him to make him a cup of coffee.

When I went to hand Bill the up Molly stood and prepared to leave. "Bill, do you really have to have such long hair?"

"She prefers my hair this way," he said motioning to me with a wave of his hand. I rolled my eyes, briefly meeting Molly's smug gaze before she apparated out of the house.

"Are you going into work today?" I asked, settling down across from him. Picking up my mug, I took a sip as I watched him over the rim of the cup.

At my question he made a face and nodded his head, "Yeah I am, but not for a while yet."

"Alright," I said clearing up the plates. "I've got some errands to run before I go to work so I'll probably do them and just go straight to work. But don't work yourself too hard and if you feel any strain whatsoever then you come straight home Bill." I levelled him a firm look when he rolled his eyes. "And before you even ask me, yes they are a healer's orders."

"Yes ma'am," he complied as he moved towards the sink to help me wash up the dishes.

We washed the dishes in a comfortable silence until all of the dishes had been returned to the right place. With a quick glance at the clock, I let out a curse. I had no idea how the time had managed to pass so quickly but now there was almost no time for me to stay at home. I'd have to change into my uniform, run my errands and then go straight to work. But even then, I would be cutting it a bit fine.

"Are you going to be late?" Bill asked as I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time in order to get to my room quickly.

"Probably," I called down to him from the top of the stairs.

Changing into my uniform in record time I was downstairs once again, standing beside Bill who was watching me with obvious amusement. Rolling my eyes at him, I did a quick check to make sure that I had everything and moved to leave when an arm blocked me on my way to the fireplace.

Looking up at Bill I raised an eyebrow at him but he only leaned down to offer me his cheek in response. Moving in to place a kiss on his cheek, I froze when Bill turned his head to look at me suddenly. Pulling back from him quickly I felt his gaze heavy on me but I refused to meet his eyes. I cleared my throat uncomfortably, still not looking at him as I walked around him to the fireplace.

Grabbing a handful of the floo powder I shouted, "St. Mungo's!"

I guess that my errands were going to have to wait. Bill's sudden movement had disorientated me so much that they had slipped from my mind. As the flames engulfed me I closed my eyes knowing that the kiss had meant a lot more to me than it had to him.

**********

Ever since Bill and I had had our little encounter, things had been strained between the two of us. That itself was so completely odd because no matter how awkward the encounter that had happened between us was, we were always back to normal the next day. I mean, I'd even walked into Bill's room once to finds him 'occupying' himself and even then there had been nothing award between us.

But now there was. And no matter how hard I tried to fix it, it just wouldn't work. I'd tried to act as though it had never happened and that only seemed to anger Bill to the point where he was completely ignoring me. So now when I was trying to talk to him about it, he was being a stubborn mule about it all.

"Bill," I said standing in the doorway of his office at home. He remained focused on his work, not even looking up at me. "We need to talk about what happened."

He looked up from his desk to me and sighed as though he was annoyed. I should have been the one that was annoyed! He was the one that had kissed me. And now he was the one that was avoiding me.

Crossing his arms as he leaned back in his chair, he raised an eyebrow at me. "Exactly what happened again?"

I put my hands on my hips, narrowing my eyes onto him as I gave him a flat look. "You know what happened William Weasley."

Pushing away from his desk, he stood to walk around to the front of his desk. Leaning against it, he crossed one leg over the other at his ankle. "What is there to talk about? I kissed you and you pulled back. End of story - that's all there is to it."

"Seriously Bill, don't do this alright. Don't overreact. A kiss is supposed to mean something-"

"And what makes you think that that kiss didn't mean anything?"

"I truly care about you Bill, how couldn't I? Look I love you but I won't become your rebound that only happens because you're feeling lonely after having been in a relationship for so long."

He was silent for a while, clearly repeating my words to himself and I took that as my cue to leave.

"You wouldn't have become a rebound." His words rooted me to my place. I met his eyes as he pushed away from his desk. "I never meant for any of it to happen. I never meant for Fleur to become a rebound for you."

"She was a rebound for me?" I asked quietly.

He nodded his head. "It just - when I met her you were dating? Do you remember the guy?"

I nodded slowly. Of course I remembered the man that I had almost walked down the aisle with, only to find out that he was more interested in his best man. It had been a whirlwind romance that had broken my heart and Bill had been there to help me mend it. And of course so had Fleur who had watched her boyfriend, at that time, spending his days revolving around another woman. I think that was when her hatred for me had begun.

"You were so in love with him and seeing him make you so happy in a way that you wouldn't let me make you happy had hurt. And then in came Fleur with her veela-ness. She was beautiful and that was the extent of it all. But I tried to get my mind off of you with her help. It clearly didn't work. When you broke up with him, I had tried to break it off with Fleur except she wouldn't let me. She had somehow eventually convinced me to marry her instead and I just-"

"Bill," I said gently, cutting off his ramblings. "Bill you're probably confused. She's so beautiful and-"

"And it didn't matter because you were the only one I saw," He muttered walked towards me. When he came to a stop in front of me, he tucked some of my hair behind my ear. "You're still the only one that I see."

"But I-"

Ignoring the protests that I tried to make he pulled me into his arms, making my body press against his. He lowered his head slightly and waited. "Back away now and we can go back to being just friends again. Or do nothing to stop me and our relationship changes completely."

"I don't think we've ever been just friends." I said leaning up to meet him half way. This time I didn't pull back and neither did he.

***********

5 YEARS LATER

"William Weasley!" There was a thunderous shout of the name and I groaned, burying my face in my pillow.

Reaching over to the other side of the bed, I shook Bill awake. He glanced over at me, eyes still heavy with sleep.

"Your mum's here," I said quietly, pushing myself out of the bed as he did the same.

Sparing a glance at the clock I moaned in annoyance when I saw the time. What was she doing here so early in the morning? Bill headed to the door of our bedroom and glanced back at me from over his shoulder.

"Go back to sleep," he said gently. "We just came back from a trip not even three hours ago - you need your sleep."

I nodded at the truth in his words and tried to settle back to sleep. But sleep evaded me because I couldn't get the image of a raving Molly Weasley from my mind. She was furious and I couldn't leave Bill to bear the brunt of her anger - especially when I also knew the reason that she was so angry.

With a sigh I pulled myself out of bed and walked out of the room, setting a hand on my stomach. Pulling my hand away, I padded down the stairs, hearing Molly's voice in the kitchen. I remained hovering in the doorway of the kitchen, both Weasley's backs facing me as they remained unaware of my presence.

"Mum," Bill said pleadingly, "Can you please keep your voice down? She's still sleeping. We've only just-"

"Do not tell me what to do William Weasley!" Her volume escalated quickly, "I was more than fine with you whisking your girlfriend off on a yearlong trip around the world with only the occasional postcard from you but you've crossed a line. Imagine my expression when I had found out!"

"Mum -"

"Imagine my shock! I had been cleaning in the middle of the night to occupy my mind, because you know that I've been having some trouble sleeping, and when I get round to cleaning the clock I notice another hand on the clock with her face and name on it! William Weasley you got married without even telling your mother."

"Mum," he said placatingly. "It happened almost eight months ago."

Clearly that had not been the right thing to have said to his mother. She rounded on him as soon as he had finished speaking.

"Eight months! Eight months!" She threw her hands in the air in frustration, "Did you never think to write home about that in one of your post cards! Do you know how cheated I feel Bill? You've cheated me out of the opportunity to plan the wedding of my eldest son - to see you make the biggest commitment to the woman that you love."

I chewed on my bottom lip, feeling the guilt eat up at me. It was true that Bill had been the one to ask me to marry him but I had been the one that wanted the private ceremony. Bill and I had both almost gone through the whole big wedding thing once, and it had been the last thing that I wanted to do again. I wanted to marry Bill and I didn't see the necessity of the big event. It was possible for me to completely commit myself to Bill without needing any of that and Bill had agreed as well. But neither of us had actually considered the backlash of our decision. We had only been thinking about ourselves and not of the fact that a wedding was a family event. Molly had every right to be upset with both of us.

I couldn't let Bill take everything by himself.

"Mrs Weasley," I said quietly, stepping into the room, making both of them turn to look at me.

"Yes hello, Mrs Weasley," She said, her eyes locking onto me as I walked to stand beside Bill. "I hadn't meant to have woken you up but I had something rather important to talk to you both about."

"Oh no it's no problem," I protested quietly, hearing the bite to her words. Setting a hand on my stomach as I did whenever I felt nervous, I relaxed a little when Bill placed a hand on my back. He rubbed his hand across my back in soothing circles.

"Oh my," Molly said, her voice now part shock and part awed. Her eyes had followed my movement and she was now staring at my bump. She looked up quickly between the two of us before her eyes settled onto me. "You're-"

I nodded uncertainly, watching her reaction.

"We were going to come and see you first thing tomorrow Mum," Bill said when it became obvious that both Mrs Weasleys were tongue tied. "Once she had rested up we were going to floo to the burrow to introduce you to your first grandchild."

"Bill!" She said, his words having snapped her out of her stupor. "Do you know how dangerous the floo is for a pregnant woman?!" Bill did know that - he had forbidden my use of the floo network when he had found out that little fact. "If she needs to go anywhere then she should apparate."

"Yes mum," he said and I caught the small smirk lingering around his lips.

Molly then slowly approached me and Bill stepped away from me leaving me open to the inspection by his mother. She peered down at my bump and I rubbed it absentmindedly waiting for the verbal lashing that I was going to get.

"How many months along are you?"

"S-sorry?" I asked, not having expected her to ask me that.

"How many months along are you, dear?"

"F-five."

"Have you been having cravings?"

Bill decided to answer for me, something that Molly didn't appreciate but she made no comment against. "She said she was craving your chicken pie mum."

"I'll make some for you tomorrow then." She gave me a gentle smile as if to stop me from freaking out. "Do you know the gender?"

"We're having a boy," I said my voice, obviously more confident now. "We're going to name him Arthur."

Molly pulled me closer than, sobbing against my shoulder as she officially welcomed her to the family and thanked me for putting up with her son and giving her a grandchild. I patted her back uncertainly, looking at Bill for some clue into what I was supposed to do.

"Mum," he said setting a hand onto her shoulder. "I think she needs to rest now."

"Of course you're right."