His foot twitched irritably underneath his desk. His upper shoulders ached after sitting in the same position for an entire week. The clock turtled slowly on the wall, it was 3:43, only two minutes after he last checked.

Boredom set in months ago when he accepted the transfer out of Egypt back to a desk job in the London branch of Gringotts. He hated being home. Going from climbing and crawling through dark and dusty tombs to being chained to a sanitized cubicle of desks surrounded by mindless drones was excruciating.

But Dumbledore needed an inside man with the Goblins. He knew deep within the vaults of Gringotts there were dark artifacts. More than every Egyptian tomb combined. But he couldn't burst in and start excavating like he does in the tombs. This involves breaking down defenses at a personal level. Gaining the trust of his superiors, access to restricted files, and being promoted to the internal curse breaking team.

Which means sitting at this desk. Looking back at the clock the minute hand hit 3:44. Groaning, Bill shifted in his seat thinking about how his seat needs a longer cushioning charm.

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"So as I was saying Mr. Hanson, these vaults on the 5th level have a strong reading of dark magic activity. You can see here how there is something leaking from the 3rd and 4th vault. I would be happy to head down and…" A strong flowery scent wafted past Bill briefly distracting him. A wave of silver hair flowed past him like a gentle stream of water in a babbling brook. A sense of excitement and calm simultaneously filled Bill. He sensed her presence walking by. Bill coughed three times to cover his momentary lapse in brain function as the blood rushed back into his head. "Run the preliminary tests in the area. I can get started tomorrow when Jenkins is back at his desk."

"Great work Bill, no need to wait until tomorrow. This is a simple job, perfect for the interns. Why don't you take," Mr. Hanson looked across the beige cubicles. His gaze stopped as his left eye twitched in subconscious attention. "DELACOUR, come over here."

Bill's heart simultaneously sped up and slowed down. His palms drenched in sweat at the mere mention of her name. The silver head was now standing next to him. Her demeanor was professional in her conservative buttoned up robes. Her hair - her elegant, ethereal hair - contained by two small clips was pulled off the side of her lovely face.

He needed to remind himself to get a grip. She was just a girl. And he had a job to do. This was the first chance at getting a solo look at the fifth level. Dumbledore needs him to focus. He brought his attention back to Mr. Hanson as his droning voice doled out instructions to the two of them.

"You will go outside the vaults and touch nothing. You will not approach the vaults themselves. You are heading down there to record the levels of dark magic and presence of curses but you are not to enter."

"Yes sir," They said together. Fleur chanced a glance up into Bill's tall emotionless face. He walked away towards the door forcing her to spring forward to catch up to his sudden movement.

They walked to the elevator in silence. Bill mumbled a few notes to himself as he looked through the paperwork. Fleur stood on her tiptoes and crouched closer to him to try and gain access to his notes.

Bill felt her presence invading his space. Taking a calming breath he reminded himself he was supposed to help train the interns.

"Ms. Delacor, have you broken a curse outside of training or a scholastic environment?"

"Oui."

Silence followed. Bill looked at her quizzically.

"And?"

"Eet broke."

Silence resumed. Bill groaned. This was worse than pulling that abscessed tooth from an angry Hungarian Horntail with Charlie.

"And?"

She looked annoyed back at him challenging him to force her to say more. Bill sighed as the elevator opened and she walked out with her head held up and shoulders squared. He knew that stubborn posture anywhere, seeing it on his own mother many times before. Subconsciously, he smiled. He could crack her faster than an Egyptian protection charm on a family of sarcophagi.

He allowed her to fall back into silence and set the pace for the walking. The brightness of the natural light flooding the lobby causing his eyes to squint and re-adjust. He caught a glimpse of silver radiating through her hair.

He stayed three steps behind her allowing her to fall into a false feeling of control. Her shoulders fell back into a relaxed posture. Smirking he quickened his pace and walked a step ahead of her. He took back the dominance as they raced to the cart.

His long leg breached the entrance of the employee cart entrance. He stopped and turned, catching Fleur off guard as she continued walking. He waited for her to realize her mistake smirking as she fumbled her way back to the cart. The defensive posture returned as her glare met his mirth filled eyes.

"Our chariot awaits us," he mockingly bowed as he let her enter the cart first. She pushed her way through muttering something about arrogant Englishmen.

They twisted and turned through the track. Bill pulled his long hair into a ponytail containing it. He lost his balance and leaned into Fleur's small frame.

"Erh, sorry, almost there."

Fleur shrugged her shoulders as she stayed unwavering statuesque against the velocity of the cart. The cart jolted to a stop as she pointedly looked at Bill annoyed as he stumbled out of the cart.

"Over here, third door."

"Oui."

Bill stood silently as he waved his wand in the sequence running through standard detection codes. Fleur watched from the side. She crept closer and closer to him trying to decipher his steps. Bill looked down at her. Her face was softer, she looked genuinely curious.

"This is the detection charm," he showed her the intricate wand movement with his left hand. "And this is the specialized shield charm, it is more advanced than protego. I learned it in the field."

He went through the entire sequence step by step. He explained every gesture, wand movement, and nonverbal incantation. She stood mesmerized. He finished as a small bead of sweat trickled down his brow as he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"And that is that."

"Zank you."

They walked back to the cart. Bill held the door open for her as she sat down full of grace and grandeur.

"You don't talk much do you?"

"Eet iz me accent. Most peeple do not understand me."

All the pieces of her remaining puzzle fell into place. Bill checked the watch his parents gave him for his 17th birthday. It was a quarter until lunch.

"Come get some food with me. Let's talk more. I think your accent is lovely." Fleur blushed as they rode the rest of the way in companionable silence.

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"So then came Ginny. She is the youngest of our clan. When she was born the entire family changed. My uncles, the original twins, passed away during the first war about a year earlier. I had just finished my first year at Hogwarts and was home for summer break. She was born a few weeks before I went back for my second year."

Fleur was completely enraptured. He had spent the majority of the week's lunches talking to take the pressure off her to come up with things to say. He spoke about everything, from his time at Hogwarts to his life in Egypt. But it was his family that caused her to smile the widest. And how he loved to see her genuine smile. Not a polite professional smile, or a congenial friendship smile, but a broad brilliant smile that made her inner beauty shine.

"So anyway, I was always apathetic to babies. I vaguely remember Percy being born. I vividly remember the wailing of the twins, somehow even as infants they wanted to eat, sleep and cry in sync. I remember Ron's colic. But Ginny, our Ginny was so different."

" 'Ow?"

"From the moment she was born she brought light into our family. That is why I am so protective of her. The smell, she smelled so brilliant it is hard to describe. Her head was pure innocence. Even her nappies had some sweet tangy smell to them for the first few months. I couldn't get enough of her. I helped Mum with her the most during those three weeks. Mum had a rough delivery and Dad was busy keeping the rest of the crew alive. I spent many hours rocking Ginny to sleep and changing her. It was the hardest thing in the world to leave her and go back to school."

"But you were so young! 'ow did you know to appreciate 'er so?" It was the most Fleur had spoken back to him all week.

Bill laughed in return. "I can't wait for you to meet her someday. You will understand. You can't know Ginny and not love her."

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They stood outside her door. His mouth was on hers. His hands buried in her long silky hair. He panted breathing in her scent, her mouth, her essence. He unsuccessfully tried to stifle a moan as he pulled her closer into him.

"Marry me." He didn't ask, he demanded it. He held her body tightly against his desperate for her to say yes.

They stopped kissing. Fleur looked into his deep enamored eyes. They had the same deep warm look he had when he spoke of his family.

"Oui."

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"Your muzzer 'ates me."

"She doesn't know you."

"I 'ave spent zee entire summer zere, she 'ates me."

"Just relax around her. I love you and she will as well. Give it time. You are a little different than what she expected." Bill chuckled. He felt Fleur stiffen in annoyed in his arms. He rolled over and looked into her angry face. He loved when she was riled.

"And what iz zat suppose to mean? 'Ow am I different? Iz it because I talk funny? Because I am not some sniveling English rose?"

"It is because you are exactly like her, she just doesn't realize it yet. Fierce, determined, strong and bold. You love deeply and completely with your entire soul."

"I still theenk she 'ates me."

"Right now she may, but just give it time. Let her get to know you." He held her tighter as she softened into his arms. Right now the last thing he wanted to talk or think about was his mother. He rolled Fleur over and lost himself in his beautiful fiance's embrace.

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"What do I care how 'e looks? I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk! All these scars show is zat my husband is brave!"

The pain in his face and side broke as she applied the ointment to his throbbing skin. A sense of calm and stillness washed over him as he watched the inner fortitude and strength explode. The tidal wave he always knew she possessed coming out full force against his formidable mother.

Everyone waited for Molly to inevitably explode with firey passion. But he knew she wouldn't. Her face shifted and softened. After almost a full year of their back and force petty squabbles and complaints, he knew they finally found something they could agree on. How much they loved him.

"You can wear my Aunt Muriel's tiara…" The rest of the words faded into the darkness engulfing him. There it was. There was the break of tension he waited a year for.

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The waves crashed against the shore. They were alone outside of their empty cottage. He loved the ocean, the perfect symbol for his fierce beautiful wife. It could bring you on journeys to far off lands one could never comprehend. It could change winds and go from calm to deathly dramatic in an instant. It could hold life, his hands stroked her round belly, nurture new unexplored life. It could wash away the sins of the past.

"I think I know when you fell in love with me."

"Oh really? Okay you silly man, enlighten me. When zid I fall in love with ou."

"It was when you first saw me looking so cool in the cubicles of Gringotts."

"Non."

"No? Really?" He thought back for a moment. Over their highs and lows of early courtship. "Okay, it was when I taught you all those charms down in the vault of Gringotts."

"Closer but non."

"Hmm...Was it when I fought bravely at the first battle of Hogwarts and you realized how strong and bold I was?"

"Pft, you theenk I would agree to marry someone I was not madly in love with yet? Non. Try again."

Bill thought. The moment, the one singular moment was escaping him. He knew all the moments that led to this blessed moment for him. The small subtle looks, the fierce and boldness of her walls, his ability to break through them. His ability to see the small fragile girl within the woman's hard icy shell.

"When we had our talks and I told you about my family."

"Getting closer."

"So tell me."

Fleur shifted and faced him. She looked him in the eyes filled with love and caring. She placed her hands over his on her stomach.

"It was when I realized I wanted you to be the father of my children. It was when you described 'ow much you loved Ginny and babies even though you were still a boy. If you love our daughter alf as much as zat, she will know all ze love in ze world."

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A cry broke through the night. His bones felt exhausted as Victoire cried out for them. Fleur stirred but he pushed her arm back down.

"Get some rest darling, it is my turn."

He made this way through the darkness of their home to Victoire's room. He picked her up and held her close breathing in the sweet smell of a child, his child. His precious girl.

Fleur was wrong, he didn't love his daughter half as much as Ginny. He loved her totally and completely with his whole heart. He held her close as she settled into his chest falling back asleep into his heartbeat. They rocked silently in the night, he was unable to will himself to place her back in her crib. He fell asleep in the darkened room with her in his arms.

Morning came far too soon as the light drifted in through the curtains. Fleur stood in the doorway smirking in her white cotton dressing gown. Her silver hair cascaded down her shoulders in tangles. She looked exhausted, worn out with bags underneath her eyes. She never looked more beautiful in her life.

"Morning," he said with a sleepy smile. He smelled the floral scent of his wife's perfume as she lifted the sleeping baby from his arms. She kissed his forehead as she adjusted Victoire.

"Come, your mother is going to visit us today, we need to get the 'ouse ready."

He pulled Fleur onto his lap holding his two girls close to his heart. He heard the ocean crashing outside. He leaned into Fleurs body happy for the mundane routine of it all. Happy to be home.