Part Five: Progression

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author.

A/N – This story is non-HBP or DH compliant and can therefore be considered AU. For the purpose of this story, Bill is neither engaged to Fleur nor is he part werewolf. He might have been dating the blonde for a short time, but she won't be getting a mention.

Many thanks and hugs to WriterMerrin for all of her help as my beta.

--

The Portkey that Hermione was scheduled to take was leaving for London at exactly six o'clock in the evening.

At half past five, she collected together the last of her remaining possessions from her room in the flat and placed them in the pockets of her travelling robes. As with her departure to China from London three months beforehand, her belongings had gone ahead of her by a separate Portkey earlier in the day. After handing in her key to the landlord and bidding farewell to a couple of her colleagues from over the past months, she made her way over to the Portkey point. As she was approaching, she saw that Adam Gardener was standing around in that area, also wearing his travel robes.

'Master Hermione!' he greeted cheerfully.

Hermione almost laughed. He had taken to calling her that ever since she had offered that he start using her given name instead of her formal title. 'Good evening, Mr. Gardener. I assume you are heading home to London for the holidays?' she inquired politely.

'Yes, for two weeks and then I'll be back here with the Master until the entire site has been exhumed,' he replied enthusiastically. 'I heard some of the other researchers talking the other day, and they said that you would not be returning after the holidays like the rest of us.'

She nodded with an awkward smile. 'What you overheard is correct. I won't be returning here for quite a while it seems. After finding the ancient archive beneath the central burial chamber, I have quite a lot of work in translation to do and a team back in London that is going to help me get it done,' she replied. 'All of the scrolls and texts in the archive were removed to the archives at Gringotts for safe-keeping just yesterday.'

'It sounds like you've got quite a job ahead of you,' he said.

'Certainly, I won't lie and say that it will all be brilliant and glamorous work, but nothing good ever came from a lazy mind,' she replied. 'I will be swamped under a load of paperwork and various other things in the meantime, so I imagine translating will come as a welcomed job after all of that.'

'Well, it's nearly six. We'd better get a hold of that Portkey before it leaves without us,' he said, picking up the bright yellow Wellington boot from the ground and holding it out for her to grasp onto also.

Grabbing onto the other side with one hand, Hermione ensured that her wand was firmly clasped in her other hand. Soon enough she felt a familiar tug around her navel as she was dragged through time and space until finally she ordered for them to let go. She arrived at the Ministry department that she had left from and thanked the receptionist on the way out. After bidding her protégé goodbye for the last time, she made her way to the nearest Apparation point and appeared at home moments later.

Her trunks and other belongings were sitting on the floor in her sitting room. The house was a little musty from being locked and warded without an inhabitant for so long, and there was a thin layer of dust on most surfaces. Waving her wand, she turned on the lights and moved around the rooms downstairs, Scourgifying the dust away and purifying the air. After that, she floated her trunks up the stairs and left them at the foot of her bed to deal with later.

She went to her study to deposit her tools and briefcase, and after grabbing a piece of parchment, she penned a quick note to Harry and Ginny.

--

Harry and Ginny,

I'm home safe from my trip, and I'll be staying at home for the night to do a bit of cleaning and making it reasonable to live in again. I will probably be finished around midday tomorrow, and I'll pop over right after lunch to see you. I know you probably want me to be there sooner, but I won't actually be coming to stay at Godric's Hollow until Christmas Eve. Sorry, but there is a lot I have to catch up on here. I'll see you tomorrow.

Love,

Hermione

--

Dusting powder over the ink to dry it, she folded the note up and went to the window to open it. No sooner than she had opened it, she heard the beating of wings as Delia landed there in front of her. Smiling, she stroked along her feathers before attaching the note to her leg.

'Take this to Ginny,' Hermione told the owl, allowing Delia to nip affectionately at her fingers.

With a soft hoot, she took off from the windowsill and flew off into the darkness. Hermione closed the window, but cast a charm on it to open when her familiar returned for the night. With that out of the way, she went straight to her bathroom and turned on the bath taps. She was tired and sore and felt a little bit grimy from the cleaning she had done in the house, which was nothing compared to the cleaning that had yet to come. She still had her kitchen to deal with and her tool shed-come-potions lab.

Sighing heavily, she slid into her bath once it was full and allowed the hot water to soothe her weary bones. She dozed off in the water, and it was only when the water started to become a little chilled that she woke and finished her bath. When she was dry, she slid naked between the sheets after casting a warming charm on them and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

--

The days seemed to fly past, and all too soon, Christmas Eve was upon her.

Had she a little more time to accustom herself to the idea that she would be spending the entirety of her Christmas with Bill, Hermione might have been anticipating the holiday. As it was, she was nervous about how it would be to see him again after all those months away. She had never replied to any of the letters that he sent her, and for that she was regretful. What if he had decided to move on? Had she discouraged his affection by trying to keep a distance while she had been away?

She was worried that the admiration and love that she felt for him might not be returned when she was finally ready to admit that to him.

Sighing, she summoned her coat to her and shrunk down the bag of her clothes and toiletries to take to the Potters' house before locking up the house once more. It wasn't going to calm her fears at all if she didn't go and see for herself if there was still a chance for something between them. Pocketing the shrunken bag, she tucked her wand up her sleeve before Apparating.

Reappearing behind a bush in the park, Hermione walked across it and over the road to where the Potters' house was, with the white picket fence and snow covering everything except for the front path. That looked as though it had been shovelled recently, and for that she was grateful. Her feet were quite cold enough without her having to trudge through snow a foot deep. Knocking on the front door, she waited a moment before she heard footsteps and it opened up to her, and her breath hitched in her throat.

'Hello, Hermione,' Bill greeted, flashing her one of his deliberately lazy smiles.

'Hello, Bill,' she murmured quietly in return, stepping inside when he moved aside to allow her to pass.

She felt her spirits begin to sink a little as she took her bag out of her coat pocket before shrugging off her coat. Her slight moment of self pity turned to surprise, however, when she felt her coat being taken from her by Bill, who had then turned and gone to hang it up in the closet near the front door. She turned away from him, unable to look at him, her heart hammering hard in her chest.

'Where are Ginny and Harry this morning?' she asked casually, enlarging her bag.

'They went out to the shops to buy some groceries for the next few days,' Bill answered, coming to stand a couple of feet behind her. 'Harry mentioned something about the shops being shut all of tomorrow.'

'Oh yes, that's right,' Hermione said. 'Not many shops are open on Christmas day.'

Hermione closed her eyes, willing Bill to give her some sort of sign that he still wanted something with her. Letting out a breath, she began to walk up the stairs to the spare room that Ginny had told her she would be staying in and deposited her bag on the bed. Just as she was turning around to go back down the stairs, however, two arms came around her waist and pulled her back against Bill's very firm chest. His hands didn't stray, but his embrace was tight.

'Hermione...' he breathed, burying his nose into her hair and inhaling the scent of her shampoo.

'Bill, I...' she stammered. 'I'm sorry I never replied to your letters.'

One of his hands moved to stroke her stomach, tracing small patterns over her shirt. 'It doesn't matter,' he replied. 'I understand why you didn't. I could not help but to write to you, even though I knew it wouldn't be welcomed.'

'I appreciated each letter and gift that you sent,' she murmured, turning around in his arms to correct him. 'I was just... unable to respond in kind while I was there. I – it hurt too much to miss you and be unable to tell you that.'

'I missed you a ridiculous amount,' he said with a small smile. 'There was not one day while you were gone that I did not think of you.'

Hermione felt a smile come over her features at that. He could not have said a more sweet or perfect thing in that moment. Her heart was practically singing. Reaching up a hand to cup his cheek, she ran the pad of her thumb along his cheek bone and then jaw. When he moved her hand out of the way and leaned down to kiss her, she didn't stop him. She had been putting him off for far too long, and now she was going to just let things unfold. Not everything had to be totally under her control.

When they heard the door open and close downstairs along with footsteps, they broke their gentle kiss and parted from one another. Feeling a little warm and flushed, Hermione motioned for Bill to go on ahead of her and retreated quickly to the bathroom to wash her face and calm her breathing a little more. How was it that he still remained so composed while she was reduced to a blushing, panting mess? After she was sure that nothing looked out of place, she finally went back down the stairs to face two of her best friends.

No matter how composed she was, however, somehow Ginny had managed to see through her calm façade and immediately drew her into the kitchen under the guise of the two of them preparing lunch. Casting a muffling charm on the door, the younger woman crossed her arms over her chest and gave Hermione a questioning look.

'So talk,' she demanded.

Hermione could stop the blush from creeping back up her neck to her cheeks. 'I told him that I missed him.' She clasped her hands together in front of her. 'I want to make a go of it with him, and I want to do it right.'

Ginny grinned. 'Hey, I won't stop you. Whatever makes you happy, Hermione,' she said, reaching over to her and embracing her tightly. 'And if my brother happens to be the man who will make you happy, then all the better for me! I've always wanted you to be my real sister, and now, it seems, that might just happen.'

'I'm so glad I have your support,' Hermione said. 'It really means a lot to me.'

The two smiled at one another and left the kitchen in search of the two men. They found them in the sitting room, and Ginny dragged Harry off to help her in the kitchen with 'a few things that needed his contribution,' leaving Hermione alone with Bill. Her boss. The man she was falling very in love with.

He went to her and took her hand, leading her over to the window. He wrapped his arms around her to embrace her from behind, and they simply stood there, content just to be near each other.

--

Christmas at the Potters' passed in a bit of a blur.

Harry and Ginny turned out to be the only ones that Hermione felt she could trust to keep her and Bill's blossoming relationship from anyone else. On Boxing Day, Ron, Lavender, Luna and Draco Malfoy had joined them at Godric's Hollow for the entire day, exchanging the gifts that had not been sent to sit under the tree for the day before. The entire day she felt a happiness that she had not experienced for quite a number of years – as though she had finally come home to what she had been missing.

All of the thoughts made her feel that perhaps she was finally doing exactly what she was meant to be.

Two days after Christmas, Hermione had returned to her own house. It was too cold to crack open any of the windows, and she had spent the better part of the first morning home shovelling the snow from the brick path that led up to her front porch. Bill had been with her the day before, spending a little time just sitting and reading over her notes from her China expedition before they made dinner together in her kitchen. He had given her the most mind-blowing kiss of her life before he left for the night – a kiss that made her extremely weak at the knees just thinking about it.

It was almost comforting to her with Bill reverting back to his take-charge self a little bit. He didn't hesitate to touch her affectionately, nor did he bother to ask her permission to kiss her or grab her and lift her up in a tight embrace. She was going out with him to dinner that night, simply because he had demanded that she finally go on a date with him as he had practically begged her to do previously.

Hermione continued to go through her notes for the entire afternoon, but every now and then her mind would stray elsewhere. She was feeling a little excited about her first official date with Bill, and it occasionally made it difficult to focus. She was writing a book about the expedition, and she had a fairly good idea that if it were good enough, she would be able to achieve her first published work ever. In a few months' time, she planned to go back to the site and spend a month on observations on what she had hoped would be a fully exhumed burial.

When the clock on the wall chimed five o'clock, she carefully put away her books and notes. It would not do to lose anything over careless filing. She went and took a shower, careful to use her nicest smelling shampoo, conditioner, and soap. After drying off her body and hair, she moisturized and put on her undergarments and nude stockings before picking out a pretty, but modest, black cocktail dress and putting it on. Bill had told her to dress in something she would feel comfortable dancing in, so she chose a dress that fell to her knees and floated gently around her legs.

Applying just enough make-up to accent her eyes and cheekbones, she left her hair to fall in silky curls down her back to her waist. At seven, the doorbell rang and Hermione grabbed her wand and her nicest black coat and went to answer it. She opened the door to let Bill in, wordlessly accepting the kiss he immediately leaned in to place on her cheek.

'You look beautiful,' he told her sincerely.

'You're not too bad yourself,' she replied, eyeing him in his dark green shirt, clean black slacks and dinner coat.

He had another longer coat over the top to ward off the cold, and he presented her with a pretty Midnight Rose and a deep purple silk scarf. 'It's too cold to be wandering around without a scarf on,' he said, wrapping it about her neck as she pulled on her coat.

She smiled at his thoughtfulness. 'Thank you, they're both very beautiful,' she murmured as she lifted the rose to her nose to smell.

'Shall we? I have a reservation for a quarter past, and if we leave now, I have a feeling that we'll make it on time,' he said with a teasing smile.

'Yes, I'm ready.'

He wrapped her in his arms and Apparated the two of them from her house, appearing near an old, abandoned warehouse that had a dark lane running down one side of it. Taking her hand in his, he led the way down a quiet street onto a slightly busier one to a rather pretty restaurant that had fairy lights that twinkled amongst the hedges out the front. They went inside, and after he gave them his name, they were seated at a table near the window that overlooked a small courtyard garden out the back. It dawned upon her then that they were actually in a Muggle restaurant rather than a Wizarding one.

When the menus came around, Bill offered her one immediately, but she just smiled and shook her head. 'Surprise me,' she said.

'As you wish.' His grin was borderline feral then as he perused the menu quickly and placed his order quietly with the waiter.

They sat and chatted lightly about what each of them had been doing that day, and when Hermione brought up her idea about writing and trying to get a book published, Bill smiled encouragingly as she spouted all of the details. When their entrée arrived, Hermione was pleasantly surprised at what he had ordered. It was roasted capsicum with brie, asparagus and garlic. She would never have imagined that he would be able to pick out something so perfect.

He had gone with salmon soufflé, and when he saw her eyeing it from across the table, he held out some to her on the end of his fork, encouraging her to have a taste. She accepted his offer and found it to be interesting and tastier than she had expected. She then offered him the same, and he murmured an appreciation. Dinner for the two of them was roasted quail with dill Hollandaise sauce served with sautéed vegetables. By the time they were both finished, Hermione begged off dessert and Bill simply settled on a rich chocolate mousse.

After he had teased her with eating the dessert, even feeding her some off his spoon, he stood up and offered her an arm before escorting her to a small dance floor that was set up. A few other couples were already dancing. Bill eased them into a nice slow dance, swaying them gently in the steps of the waltz to the music. If any of the other Weasley boys had mastered the art of dance, she wouldn't know, but Bill, it seemed, was a divine dancer and very light on his feet. It didn't surprise her, though – he was, after all, a smooth, charming and confident man.

'Thank you,' she told him as the song came to an end.

'You're very welcome,' he told her, leading them back to the table.

He paid the check very shortly after and offered her his arm to escort her from the restaurant. The entire night he had been the consummate gentleman, and she appreciated all of the effort he had gone to just for her. After a short walk, he Apparated them back to her house and saw her to her doorstep. Once she had unlocked and opened the door, she pulled him inside out of the cold and lifted her face up to him, showing him that she wanted to be kissed.

He obliged willingly and met her pouting lips with his, deepening the kiss quickly and exploring her mouth thoroughly with lips and tongue, gently nipping at her bottom lip with his teeth. His hands went into her coat as they continued, hands grasping first her waist and then trailing up to cup a breast over her dress, his thumb rubbing over her peaking nipple through the layers of fabric. All too soon, however, he withdrew and placed a final kiss on her forehead, stroking her cheekbone with his thumb.

'Thank you,' he told her a little breathlessly. 'I am grateful that you have given me a chance.'

'I am glad,' she told him.

He Disapparated shortly after, and Hermione drifted up the stairs in a daze.

--

To be continued.