Author Note:

This is a little one-shot to all those Bill/Hermione shippers as a Christmas present from me! I hope you like it, its not perfect and a bit rough around the edges but its still in the spirit, and it's something while I'm writing the next chapter of 'Hidden Soul'.  Enjoy!

This was an unofficial challenge from Mistress Desdemona at the Bill/Hermione thread SS Cursed Genius at Fiction Alley.  To include: mistletoe, snow, a warming charm, a baby, a Molly Weasley Christmas sweater, and at least one pyramid.

*** revised version!!

Merry Christmas

PG13

Note: Set three years on from 'The Hidden Soul' when Hermione and Bill first got together. Hermione has been living in Egypt for the past two and a half years working with Gringotts on developing new security measures.  Bill is still a curse breaker, and now shares his apartment with her.  They've been at The Burrow for Christmas and this is set on Christmas Day night/early Boxing Day morning.

--------

"Hermione?" A dark shadow passed the beam of moonlight that slanted across the bed.

Hermione rolled over in bed, scrunching the duvet up around her shoulders, then opened her eyes.

"Bill?" She blinked, trying to decipher him in the dark.

"Yeah, it's me." He answered, his eyes twinkling in the gloom and a grin playing on his face.

"What is it? It's a bit late isn't it?" She yawned; peering blearily at the clock beside her, its face was snoring lightly.  Bill was tugging lightly at her hands now,

"I've got something to show you..."

Hermione couldn't resist that tone of voice, appealingly gravely as though he'd only just woken, and by now she was more than awake.  She climbed out of bed, immediately shivering as the cold air hit her.  Bill threw her the dark red jumper from Molly that she had unwrapped that morning and she scrambled into it, and then shoved her feet into some slippers, muffling her laughter at Bill's face as he noticed they were fluffy reindeers with flashing red noses. 

"Ron bought them for me," Hermione whispered reproachfully, giggling a little, "I think they're sweet." she added, wiggling her toes and making the reindeers nod for emphasis.  Bill rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, pressing a finger to his lips.  They crept down the three flights of stairs, tiptoeing silently past the room in which slept Percy, Penelope and their new born baby, Paddy.

They finally made it to The Burrow's cosy kitchen, where Hermione twirled in Bill's grip to face him and leant up to kiss him.  Bill dodged her lips, and she frowned looking mildly indignant and slightly hurt.

Bill smiled a little and taking her hand, curled it and brushed his lips over her knuckles.  "Just a few more minutes," he promised.  Hermione relented, a smile spreading across her face and a heat soaring to her toes at the touch of him.  Bill's spare hand came round to her face and covered her eyes.

"Wha - "

"Shhh." Bill cut across her, leading her out of the door and into the garden.  They crunched through the snow for a short while, Hermione's toes getting progressively colder as the snow penetrated her slippers, then Bill stopped, his hand still blindfolding her.  Suddenly she felt his lips right beside her ear,

"I know you've been missing home."

Hermione felt his hand lift, and opened her eyes.

Right in front of her, in the middle of a garden, an English garden, an English garden covered in snow that is, glistened a pyramid.  It looked as if it was made from ice, and it was shining brightly, throwing the moonlight off it in glittering sparkles.  Hermione's jaw dropped, she felt Bill's lips move again, just against her skin.

"Do you like it?"

A grin curved her lips.  "It's beautiful,"

It was amazing, and practically radiated magic.  How it could be anything else? The sharp lines where the triangle sides met glinted dangerously like blades.  It looked the complete opposite of everything a pyramid should be, sandy, dry, crumbly and in acres of broiling hot sand – this pyramid was the negative image, all icy, shiny and smooth set amidst a snowdrift in a back garden.

Bill took her hand again and led her up to the shining flat surface of ice, it was flawless, she arched an eyebrow at him.

"Breath on it," he said.  Hermione blinked, then obliged.  Her breath shimmered on the glassy ice for a second, then spread into an arch shape, and then melted an opening.  Staring in astonishment, she felt Bill's hand on the small of her back and stepped through the doorway.

"Wow." She gasped.  The interior of the pyramid was furnished, the floor piled high with huge mounds of pillows and throws in rich, cream furs.  A small table to the side was piled high with food and beside it a little wine rack. The whole space glowed with a warm hued light, soft and fuzzy like candlelight.

Hermione stared around, astonished, she glanced over her shoulder and saw the ice behind her had melted back into a flawless sheet, enclosing them into the pyramid.  The ice walls from the inside distorted the garden as if they were frosted glass, merging the grey trees and navy night sky into paint like smudges.

"This is incredible," she said, meeting Bill's eyes.  He beamed,

"I'm glad you like it, I was going to go for the typical kind of pyramid, but I figured you'd seen enough of them – and anyway, I gave into the Weasley Christmas spirit," he admitted grinning sheepishly. 

"I knew it!" Hermione sang, "And you tried to fool me that cool, calm curse-breakers didn't have a soft spot for Christmas." She smirked and looped her hands around his neck pulling his face down, but Bill ducked out of her reach, avoiding her lips again.

"Come on, sit down.  Make yourself at home," He said kicking off his snowy shoes and grinning at Hermione's narrowed eyes, she followed suit, sending her sodden slippers flying into a corner. 

She flopped down onto a pile of cushions and peeled her jumper over her head, a smile jerking the corner of her mouth as the pleasantly warm air within the pyramid hit her skin. 

He'd done a good job on the warming charm.  She leant back smiling contently and watching through half lidded eyes as Bill poured two glasses of wine.  Minutes later he sank into the furs beside her, holding out her glass.  She took it from him.

"Am I allowed to kiss you yet?" She asked softly,

Bill's mouth stretched into a smile, and he paused contemplatively, his eyes dancing over her as the light within the pyramid seemed to dim a little.

"We need to toast," he muttered, his face only inches from hers, his golden red waves brushing her glossy chestnuts curls.  Hermione nodded, finding she was holding her breath, she hadn't realised how much she needed being with him, these last few minutes, not being able to press her lips to his whenever she wanted, not to be able to touch him, or feel his fingers entwine wordlessly with hers – but this was torture – sweet, seductive torture.

"To us," he murmured, his lips barely moving, touching the rim of his wineglass.

"To us." She echoed, taking a long sip of the deep burgundy wine, feeling the mellow fruitiness slide pleasingly down her throat, not breaking her eyes from his. 

Bill swallowed, and with one fluid movement had removed Hermione's glass and placed it with his on the table and wrapped his spare arm around her waist.  His hand came back to curve around her face, Hermione's eyes were about to slide blissfully shut when she felt him tilt her head upwards, she stared upwards.  In the centre, the tip of the pyramid, where the three triangle points met, hung a small, perfect sprig of mistletoe.

She couldn't hold in her chuckle, but it was soon silenced by Bill's lips on hers.  It was what she has wanted all evening, every second since he'd woken her up, every millisecond since they'd got into that pyramid.  The familiar warmth of his mouth, the smoothness of his lips against hers, the rough hard line of his jaw, her hands tangled in the waves at the nape of his neck, one of his curved around her waist, the other lacing through her hair. 

Hermione felt the kiss deepen and the fireworks explode behind her eyelids, meteorites, supernovas all swirling and twirling and making her head spin in that intoxicating way which only kissing Bill could do.  She was burning up, a hot, liquid warmth pooling in her stomach and spreading out to set each and every nerve ending on fire.  Her mind whirling from the sensations, the heat, the lack of oxygen, she felt that insidious blackness tickling the edges of her mind.  They pulled apart, just an inch, forehead to forehead, navy blue eyes staring into deep brown.

"Merry Christmas,"

She felt her lips stretch into a wide smile at his words, "Merry Christmas," she repeated.  Bill's eyes seemed to darken a hue in the dusky light, his pupils large, and only a thin navy ring of iris circling them.  They suddenly looked serious, not a trace of the usual twinkle, now only an unfamiliar, almost vulnerable glint.  His hand left her face, their foreheads still resting together, and snaked towards the table to their side.  He brought it back, curled in a fist, to between them, and Hermione glanced down questioningly.

He turned his hand upwards, and unfurled the fingers, in the middle of his palm lay a small gold band.  Embedded within it, an exquisitely cut diamond was sparkling, throwing off twinkles of the Pyramid's dim light like miniature glittering stars. 

Hermione felt her throat clog and her eyes burn, suddenly every part of her completely still the pyramid utterly silent, held in static, waiting...

"Hermione... will you marry me?"

She blinked, pulling her gaze away from the ring and up to his face.  Their eyes met and her lips were halfway to his before she had even whispered her answer. 

"Yes." And in her head: yes, yes, yes, YES.  The sealing kiss was soft, sweet and lingering.  Perfect.

She felt his rough, sand calloused fingers slide the ring down her finger, the cool metal gliding against her skin like butter.  Entwined, they fell back onto the endless miles of creamy polar furs.  And now the kiss was bruising.  Hermione's hands caught at the bottom of his jumper, tugging, it was over his head.  Their lips, apart for a nanosecond, clamped back together as if by magnetic force.  Bill's fingers were at the buttons on the oversized man shirt Hermione was wearing to bed, one of his own.  As each one popped through its hole, he kissed the couple of inches of skin it revealed: throat, collarbone, breastbone, cleavage, stomach, bellybutton... She shrugged it off, and it was tossed along with Bill's jumper to the edge of the pyramid, landing in a pool of useless cotton and wool.

Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat, the feel of the fur against her bare skin was... amazing.  Her back slid across it like silk, her front pressed against Bill's smooth, hard chest.  Her fingers already dancing across the familiar chisels and muscles, his already tracing his favourite curves gliding along her skin, leaving trails of fire, nerves ablaze wherever they went.

As her hands tangled in his hair, bringing his face to hers, their mouths fused together, his hand circled her bare thigh, and slid down to her ankle, her toes tingling at the feeling.  One hand lazily detached her fingers from his hair, and raised it above her head, holding it against the soft fur.  His thumb rubbed the metal band on her finger once, and she felt a frission of excitement pool in her stomach and she arched her back, tipping her head back.  She heard the growl of admiration from Bill's throat and felt his lips begin a tantalising trail down the sensitive skin of her neck. 

Her fingers curled into two handfuls of heavenly soft fur, and then one splayed across his back, the other snagged lightly on his button fly.  She felt his kisses falter for a second, and felt her lips curve with satisfaction, purposefully she hooked her fingers in the belt loops and tugged the khakis down, throwing them into the growing pile of clothes at the edge of the pyramid.  Her eyes fixed on the familiar lines at his hips which entranced her; she traced them with her fingertips feeling him judder beneath her touch.

Bill's mouth was at her ear, raggedy breath and gravely tone, those three words, the only ones she could imagine hearing at that moment:

"I love you."

Hermione smiled, it was amazing the jolt she got every single time he said them, it was odd, each of them alone could be thrown about endlessly in everyday conversation... I went there... Love the coat... You know the one... but string them together and they were a force to be reckoned with, destructive, dangerous and totally, totally addictive.  They were what everyone craved to give and desired to recieve.

"I love you too." She whispered back, her lips papery for a second, till his mouth descended again.

Okay, revised to include a proposal and a bit of a more steamy ending, well as steamy as FF will let me go anyway.  Hope you liked it, and thanks to those who reviewed already!

Please leave a review – it is Christmas remember!