AN: Hello! Welcome to another new one. Beginning next week this fic will update every Thursday. I was a little behind on the uploads this week. Title is borrowed from the Imagine Dragons song.

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from Harry Potter or its related properties.

Dancing in the Dark

Hermione couldn't pinpoint exactly how she ended up in this position, but she certainly wasn't complaining. She could feel the warmth radiating off the man next to her and the occasional cool breeze across her naked skin. The smell of hibiscus on the warm summer air reminded her of a tropical paradise, though she couldn't remember having left England. She rolled onto her back and stretched her arms over her head, arching to crack the joints. Her eyes popped open at the sensation of lips against her clavicle.

"Hello, beautiful." A voice mumbled against her skin, his hand snaking up to keep her hands above her head.

"Bill…" she muttered, voice gravelly with the short nap she'd taken after their last romp, a smile playing at her lips as he moved his attentions higher.

"Just enjoy, love…" he whispered against her ear, his tongue flicking the delicate skin. She squirmed under him and found her hands were now magically bound.

"My turn to play, pet. Just lose yourself." He smirked. She tried to watch him but found the binding charm made it difficult to maneuver. Eventually, she closed her eyes and lost herself as he'd instructed. Her skin tingled and burned deliciously everywhere he touched.

A resounding "crack" pulled Hermione out of her daydream with a little jump. She smacked her hand to her chest and looked around for the source of the sound, she wasn't exactly shocked to see it was coming from the back room along with a cloud of smoke.

"Oh for pity's sake…" she huffed as she mourned the interruption of her Daydream Charm and made her way into the lair of the two mad inventors.

"What did you two do now? You're supposed to be getting ready to leave, not messing about with new experiments!" She scolded Fred and George, who were frantically trying to coax some sort of potentially sentient blue slime down off the ceiling.

"Sorry 'Mione, couldn't help it." George had the decency to look shamefaced as he apologised, Fred made no such attempt and merely cackled gleefully in her direction.

"We didn't pull you away from our dear older brother did we?" Fred teased as he evanescoed the mess away.

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about…" her cheeks blazed almost as red as the twins' hair as she made to make her way back into the front of their shop.

"'Course you do. Ever since Fleur filed for divorce you've been positively drooling at the idea of cornering poor Bill." Fred continued.

"Now, now, Freddie. Ladies do not drool. And Hermione is most assuredly a lady." George countered.

"Thank you, George." She mumbled.

"I didn't say you weren't lusting after him. That you definitely are doing." He shot her a cocky grin as he darted past her to close out the tills.

"Oi! I am not lusting after anyone! Most especially not your brother!" She cried in indignation.

"Oh ho! Which one of us are you not lusting after then, Hermione?" Ron appeared through the front door, which should have been locked but had obviously been overlooked.

"Shove it, Ronald." She spat, plopping herself down on a stool to wait for the twins to finish closing procedures so they could leave.

"No, really, you can tell me. I won't say anything to whoever it is. Unless it's one of these nobs, then you're on your own." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and hugged her in an attempt at offering comfort.

"I'm not lusting after any of your brothers. Or you for that matter before you go getting that idea into your head…" she shot him a warning glare not to tease her any further. She got quite enough of that ever since she'd taken a job working with the twins.

"Never would have thought it, love. You know I've only got eyes for Luna even if you were. Besides, you barely lusted after me even when we were together." He couldn't resist the urge to tease her just a little, expertly dodging the palm that flew out to slap his arm.

"How is she doing? I heard it was twins now?" Hermione perked up at the name of her only female friend, aside from Ginny.

"Fred and George only hope it's twins since Luna is so large with the pregnancy. She thinks it's a girl, but won't let the healer tell us. She's got a name picked out and everything. Not sure how I feel about telling yet though…" Ron looked slightly worried as he rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Oh? Nothing too extreme I'm sure." Hermione soothed, patting his arm with sisterly affection.

"No, nothing like that. I just don't know how I feel about telling people before they're born. Is that stupid?" He looked genuinely worried that she may call him foolish.

"Not at all, I think it's rather sweet. You'll tell us their name when the time is right." Hermione wrapped him in a hug and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're really not going to tell me which one of my brothers you've got a crush on?" He whispered with a little laugh after confirming Fred and George had disappeared into the back room again.

"Your brothers think I've got a crush on Bill." She grumbled, fiddling with the discarded wrapper of the Daydream Charm.

"Again?" His brows knit in amusement as he tried to stifle a laugh.

"What do you mean 'again'?" She crossed her arms, trying to wither him with a look.

"You had a bit of a crush on him back in school, didn't you? Gin told me she heard you say his name while you were using a Daydream Charm…"

"Oh, good Godric. That's how they know…" she buried her face in her hands, realising that she must have muttered Bill's name this time too.

"So you do like him then." Ron beamed from ear to ear, wrapping her in a hug and lifting her into the air. She squeaked in protest.

"If you tell him I'll turn you into a toad, Ronald! Don't think I won't just because you're about to become a father! And that goes double for you two back there, I know you're listening!" Hermione whirled and shouted at the back room as the sound of muffled laughter made its way to her ears.

"I won't say a word, Hermione. His divorce isn't even finalised yet. It's not likely he'd make a move even if he did know." Ron comforted her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks, Ron, I appreciate it." She sighed in resignation and made her way to the back to pull the other two redheads out by their ears.

Dinner had been mostly uneventful. Molly had become particularly militant about enforcing at least one extended family dinner per week since the Burrow had been rebuilt after the war. It wasn't entirely different than how it had been before, just with a few extra rooms in the hopes that their family would expand to include more grandchildren. As it was, she had both Percy's girls, George's son, and Ginny's two sons to fawn over. If her newest daughter-in-law's prediction was correct she'd have another granddaughter underfoot shortly. She couldn't help but watch her oldest son with a shade of sadness when she saw how happily he played with his nieces and nephews. She wondered what kind of father he would have been and if it was too late for him now that Fleur was gone. While Charlie was determined to stay a bachelor forever, a trait she was noticing in Fred now as well, Bill had always wanted to be a husband and father. He very much took after Arthur in that regard.

She had not so secretly expected Fleur and Bill to provide the first grandchild, but it had never come to fruition. Fleur had become pregnant several times, but she had not carried to term, devastating the couple with each failed pregnancy. She's stopped naming the potential children after the third. Anytime Molly heard the names Victoire, Dominique, or Louis from then on she would get a pang through the heart at what could have been. She had long suspected that Bill's partial lycanthropy and Fleur's veela blood were incapable of mixing, though she kept the guess to herself. And although she had never been overly fond of the woman, she understood her heartbreak and why she'd filed for divorce when it became clear she'd never have a baby with Bill. While he would have been willing to adopt, Fleur needed children that carried her own blood, and that was something Bill could never give her.

Tonight she watched her children and their families file in and sort themselves around the long wooden table, some cradling babies or plopping a young child on their lap. The oldest, Molly II, was just under five years of age. The youngest, Albus, was just about two months now. Within a month or so they would have a newborn to add to the mix. Luna was heavily pregnant now, and barely able to waddle to her seat without Ron's assistance. Molly couldn't help but wonder what it would have been like to see Hermione in that chair. While she still invited the young woman to meals, she had not fully gotten over the fact that she'd not been married into the family tree. She loved Luna dearly and saw how good she was for her youngest son, she just wished she could see her all but adopted daughter that happy as well.

"Hermione, dear, why don't you sit with Bill. He could use some company I think." Molly suggested, steering her to the opposite end of the table from where she'd been heading to settle in next to Ginny.

"Oh, alright." Hermione agreed, not fighting the matriarch, knowing it would be pointless.

She slipped into the seat next to Bill's and noted that he hadn't spoken much tonight at all. She'd mostly avoided him, since anytime she got too close Fred would wink at her, and had missed how particularly frustrated he looked that night.

"Are you alright, Bill?" Hermione leaned in to ask, keeping her voice low.

"Just feeling a bit more wolfish than usual tonight, Hermione. I'll be fine." Bill whispered back with a forced smile.

"Wolfish? In what way?" She had never really asked Bill much about his 'touch of lycanthropy' as Molly had taken to referring to it.

"I'm… erm… feeling the loss of a mate just now. Our divorce was finalised this morning. I've not been able to tell mum and dad yet." Bill shot a guilty look in her direction before checking the whereabouts of his parents.

"I'm sorry, Bill. Today must have been difficult for you." Hermione consciously laid her hand on his knee beneath the table, not noticing the way he swallowed hard at the contact.

"I knew it was coming. We never bonded properly. Couldn't. Even though I've just got a little wolf in me, it doesn't like her. Wouldn't let me claim her." He rambled, trying to keep himself from squirming too much under her casual touch.

"Claim her? I thought only full wolves did that?" She tilted her head in a way that Bill immediately found attractive.

"Unfortunately, I did pick up that troublesome symptom. I won't be able to sire children with anyone the internal wolf does not claim as its own. I'm not particularly happy about that, actually. Fleur only left me because I can't give her children." Bill sighed in frustration.

"It must be lonely for you," Hermione whispered, giving his thigh a distracted squeeze as she glanced over the faces settling in around them to begin dinner.

"It is. Especially on nights like tonight." He admitted.

"Like tonight? Oh! It's a full moon, isn't it?" Hermione realised, pulling her hand back as she clapped them over her mouth.

"Oh, Bill… today really has not been a good day for you." She murmured, before wrapping the man in a hug. She didn't notice the way he all but snuffled her hair before she let go.

"I'll be fine." Bill reassured her as they turned their attention to Arthur as he announced the start of dinner.

Most everyone had departed not long after dinner, it being a work night for most of them, and having little ones in toe. It left just Bill, Hermione, and Fred sat around the end of the kitchen table, splitting a bottle of firewhisky between them.

"Tell us, 'Mione, how did you come to realise that ickle Ronniekins was not the one for you." Fred teased her, setting a fresh drink in front of her.

"Your brother is married and about to have his first child and you're still on about how he and I ended?" Hermione laughed as she took a sip from her glass.

"Well, can't really help it, can I? Seeing as you refuse to tell any of us what happened. Even Ron won't say anything, and he isn't the best at keeping secrets."

"I must say, Hermione, I've wondered about that a bit myself. The two of you never really made sense to me, and then your split was rather sudden." Bill sided with his brother, taking a long swallow from his own glass.

"If you must know… and I swear I'll end both of you if this ever gets out… we weren't… compatible." Hermione explained, cautiously.

"Well, anyone could see that…" Fred laughed.

" I don't think she means personality wise, little brother," Bill said with a raise of his eyebrows, leaning back in his chair to stare at her.

"Wait, do you mean sexually?" Fred leaned forward, all but whispering the last bit.

"Yes." Hermione took a long pull of her drink to avoid expanding on the subject. She sniffed demurely before leaning back in her own chair, refusing to speak further.

"Well, now I want to know what it is that was so sexually incompatible." Fred shook his head in bewilderment as he mulled over the possibilities.

"I might have some guesses." Bill murmured into his drink.

"Oh?" Hermione asked with a small smirk.

"I'm willing to bet he was the more vanilla of you two. You wanted something he couldn't or wouldn't do for you…" he trailed off, taking yet another long drink.

"Granger, are you secretly into something kinky?" Fred beamed at her, setting his glass on the table.

"I don't see why what it is matters. The point is, the sex wasn't particularly satisfying so we decided to split and stay friends." Hermione tried to end the topic, not wanting to dive into the finer points of her desires with her current crush and one of her bosses.

"If we promise not to tell? You can even make us make an unbreakable vow…" Fred pleaded.

"I'm not going to do that, you're being ridiculous." Hermione huffed, getting up to leave the table to refill her glass. At the rate she was going now it was likely she'd not only end up telling them but potentially doing so in graphic detail.

She tried to steady herself and her breathing as she stood over the counter and took a few deep breaths.

"I bet I can guess what it was…" Bill whispered in her ear, she hadn't even heard him follow her, let alone noticed how close up behind her he'd positioned himself.

"That's what you think." Hermione challenged, feigning a bravado she wasn't feeling.

"I can smell your arousal right now, Hermione. I've been catching whiffs of it all night. I thought it might have been Fred at first, the way you were avoiding me earlier. Now I'm not so sure. Since I've come up behind you like this, your heart hasn't stopped racing…" he whispered as he pressed forward into her.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about…" she tried to compose herself, failing as he moved his hands from either side of her to run one over the waistband of her jeans.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. You like things a bit more exciting than most, you want me to touch you right now, even though Fred could walk in at any moment." He popped open her fly and waited when she held her breath.

She nodded slightly, unable to ignore the truth in his words. He slid one hand down to cup her sex through her soaking wet knickers. She groaned low in the back of her throat, unable to help herself. He chuckled to himself as he rubbed her through the cloth, enjoying the way she tried to keep herself still under his touch.

"You want someone who is going to take control in the bedroom and not expect you to lead everything. You want someone who might be willing to bind or blindfold you, don't you?" He all but growled in her ear when he sensed her becoming more aroused at his words.

"Yes…" she breathed after a few moments of trying to collect herself.

"If I take you home tonight I can't promise the wolf isn't going to want to come out and take control of things." He swallowed as he breathed in her ear, removing his hand from her knickers before she could reach orgasm.

"Tease." She accused as she turned to face him, taking him by the belt loops and apparating them away.