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“Shite!” Hermione exclaimed as the goblet she picked up to examine glowed a deep red and sent a wave of heat across her hand. She quickly dropped the goblet and cradled her burnt hand to her chest, turning to glare at her partner when she heard him chuckling.
“Rookie mistake, Granger,” Bill said as he pulled a tube of burn ointment from his desk. “Let me see your hand.”
She narrowed her eyes at him but gave in rather quickly since the pain only got worse as the seconds ticked on, holding out her hand for him to inspect. He gently took her hand in his, raising it closer to his eye level so that he could get a better look.
As had become normal when she was in close proximity to Bill, her heart raced and she found it hard to think straight. She really needed to learn to control her reaction to him, especially since they would be working out in the field together after she completed her training in a few weeks. Her silly little crush on the eldest Weasley brother would only be a distraction.
“Could be worse,” he said, putting a small dollop of ointment onto the palm of her hand.
“Easy for you to say,” Hermione replied, watching him as he spread the ointment across her palm and the blistered pads of her fingers, using a featherlight touch that sent a slight shiver down her spine. His dark blue eyes focused solely on his self-appointed task of healing her hand. “You’re not the one who was burned.”
“Fair enough, I suppose. We should let that sit for about five minutes or so,” Bill said, releasing her hand from his grasp before sitting down on the edge of his desk. He cleared the spot next to him and patted it, indicating that she should join him. Careful to only use her uninjured hand, she carefully perched herself on the desk next to him.
“Thank you, by the way,” Hermione said, a slight blush coloring her cheeks as a sigh of relief left her when the ointment began to do its job, relieving the pain and reducing the blisters to nothing. “I can’t believe that I managed to make such a silly mistake. I’m nearly done with training and I should have known better.”
“No thanks needed,” Bill said with a shrug. “It's a mistake that just about every Curse Breaker has made at least once, so don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s like a rite of passage, being on the receiving end of a flagrante curse. What distracted you, anyway? Daydreaming about your date last night?”
Hermione grimaced. “Definitely not.”
“That bad?”
“I don’t know what Ginny was thinking with this one,” she replied, shaking her head. “She’s set me up on bad dates before, but last night’s date was dreadful. We had nothing in common and the whole evening was awkward, but he somehow thought it went well enough to kiss me at the end of the night and...let’s just say that his technique could use quite a bit of work.”
Bill groaned sympathetically. “If it makes you feel any better, mine was dreadful too - the date and the kiss goodnight.”
She hummed noncommittally. “I’m beginning to wonder if I’m the problem. I mean, some of the wizards I’ve gone out with were nice enough, but there wasn’t much of a connection. Or, there could have been a connection but there was no spark when they held my hand or kissed me. Is that a reason to not give someone a chance? Maybe I’m just too...picky?”
“I can’t imagine that you’re the problem, Hermione,” Bill said, turning to face her. “You know what you need and deserve in a relationship. Take it from someone who has made that mistake, there’s nothing wrong with not forcing something that’s not right for you, no matter the reason.”
“That’s fair. I just feel so out of my depth, I guess. It’s not like you can learn about passion and romance out of a book.”
“No, you really can’t,” Bill agreed with a chuckle. “You could always take a break from the blind dates and tell Ginny no more matchmaking.”
“Then I would never get a date,” Hermione said, ducking her head as her self-doubt shone through. “It’s not like I have wizards lining up to date me now.”
“Well, I know of at least one wizard who would be interested in taking you out on a proper date.”
“Oh, really?” Hermione scoffed. “And who would that be?”
“Me.”
Hermione’s head shot up, turning to look at him and expecting to see a mischievous and teasing smirk. Instead, she found openness and honesty in the eyes of a blushing Curse Breaker. She couldn’t remember a time that she had ever seen him blush before. He was always so sure of himself - confident and cool - and it took her breath away to see him like this.
“Really?” She asked quietly, daring to hope. Hermione had always thought that her feelings were one-sided, but if they weren’t...
Bill nodded, reaching over and lacing his fingers through the fingers of her uninjured hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “Really.”
“I’d like that,” she replied with a grin, her confidence returning. “I do have one concern though.”
“Work won’t be a problem. The goblins don’t have any rules against co-workers dating, and as long as we bring back treasure from the sites we visit…”
“Good to know, but not what I was referring to,” Hermione replied, her grin turning into a smirk. “I was actually interested in your kissing technique...”
“Oh,” Bill said, a smirk crossing his face as he slowly leaned in closer to her. “I'm quite confident that you won't be disappointed.”
Several breathless minutes later, Hermione couldn’t help but agree with his personal assessment. And if she had it her way, there would be many more kisses in their future.