Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling

14 February 2005

Bill Weasley was normally a big fan of Valentine's Day. Usually it meant his parents would look after Victoire and Dominique and he and Fleur could actually have some time alone. This year however, he knew that Fleur was in no mood for anything remotely Valentine's Day related.

It had all started the evening before when he'd come home from work to surprise her with a bunch of her favourite roses and a selection of all the best chocolate that Diagon Alley had to offer. On presenting Fleur with the small gifts, she had promptly burst into tears. Bill had had no idea how to respond – after living with Fleur for six and a half years, he had never known her to react in such a manner.

He'd tried comforting her but then she snapped at him to leave her alone and stormed upstairs leaving Bill to finish making dinner and try unsuccessfully to explain to his daughters why their mother wasn't eating with them. By the time the girls were in bed, Fleur was asleep and Bill hadn't the heart to wake her to find out what the problem was.

The whole fiasco had left him in a foul mood and as he now sat in Gringotts sorting through reports that had been sent back from across the globe from other curse-breakers he could not help but feel resentful that he was stuck in an office.

"Weasley!" a voice snapped causing Bill to jump. Looking up he saw Rangolf, one of the goblins, standing before his desk.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" he said trying to sound more upbeat than he felt.

"Not that I don't appreciate you working overtime but your break started fifteen minutes ago," the goblin replied.

Bill glanced at his watch and jumped up from his desk "so it did, I'd best be going then."

Rangolf put an arm out "have you finished your reports?"

"They'll be finalised by the end of the day," Bill promised throwing his cloak round his neck "now if you don't mind I have to get my lunch."

The goblin glared at him and Bill internally rolled his eyes before side stepping Rangolf and leaving the bank, heading to the Leaky Cauldron. One would think that after working for Gringotts for over fifteen years the goblins would come to respect you in some manner but there was no sign of it yet.

"Billy! You're late!" George called from a table near the door as Bill ducked into the Leaky Cauldron.

"Billy? Really, George?" Bill laughed sitting down beside Ron and opposite George after ordering his usual from Hannah, one of the bartenders.

"Thought it might put a smile on your face," George sniggered "I haven't seen someone look so upset since Ron found out he was required to wear magenta robes if he wanted to work in my shop."

"Of all the colours you could have chosen!" Ron protested "typical you and Fred choosing the one colour that absolutely clashes with our hair."

"Oh pish, stop complaining you sound like a teenage girl," George swatted his younger brother turning back to Bill with an unusually serious face "so what's eating you?"

Bill hesitated, normally it was Charlie who he went to for advice but given the situation Ron and George might be more use – they were married too.

"It's Fleur," Bill began.

Ron chuckled "wife problems, this'll be good."

Bill glared at him and began again "So last night I came home with flowers and chocolates as an early Valentine's Day present."

"Wait what?" George interrupted "Valentine's Day? It's not for like another month."

"Tell me you're joking George," Ron laughed.

"No, it's next month," George responded.

"It's today," Ron replied matter-of-factly.

George paled "it can't be … I mean today's only the fourteenth of – oh, it is today. Damnit, Angie's going to kill me; she probably thinks I've forgotten!"

"You have forgotten," Ron pointed out.

George shook his head "ah but she doesn't know that. I'll just appear back after lunch with flowers and it'll all be fine."

"Anyway!" Bill interrupted "I have a serious problem on my hands!"

"You got her an early Valentine's present," Ron recalled "I honestly don't see any reason why that is a negative."

"She burst into tears the moment I gave it to her," Bill explained, wondering for the thousandth time why every time he told any of his brothers anything it took ten times longer than it should due to their interruptions. "And before you say anything, Fleur never cries over things like this – even happy tears but there she was in floods of tears. I tried to calm her down but she started snapping at me and then she stormed off to our room and didn't come out for the rest of the night. And then this morning she wouldn't even look at me."

George and Ron shared a look before responding.

"Sounds to me like pregnancy hormones," George finally said "Angie's been having the strangest mood swings, she could be yelling at me one minute and dragging me to bed the next – come to think of it that's normal for her anyway."

"Stop right there, that is all I need to know on that," Ron intervened.

Bill ignored Ron suddenly feeling incredibly stupid – of course it was hormones, he thought feeling a wave of relief wash over him. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Who knows but after getting straight 'Outstandings' in your OWLs and NEWTs, I thought you were meant to be clever," laughed George.

Bill grinned at his brother's jibe; he felt a lot better suddenly but then a thought came to him "Wait, maybe its not – Fleur was never like this when she was pregnant with Victoire or Dominique."

"Don't look at me, I have no idea when it comes to babies and hormones and all that woman stuff," said Ron quickly.

George also looked uncertain "to be honest you'd be better talking to Mum about that but maybe different babies have different symptoms. I mean look at Ginny – I expected her to be a lot more frustrated but she's actually been surprisingly happy and calm about the whole thing while Angie's been a bit more uptight."

"Yeah, but you're living with Angelina. Ginny could be a nightmare at home for all you know," Ron pointed out. "Come to think of it, I should try and get Harry out of the house more often."

"I think Harry's doing just fine to be honest," Bill smiled, once again reassured and also pleased that his sister had someone like Harry to look after her – not that she needed much looking after.

"Look you seem alright now, but make sure that you talk this all over with Fleur," George recommended then smirked "and maybe Mum and Dad might take the girls at the last minute and you could have the night alone if you catch my drift."

Bill laughed "as tempting as the idea is, I want my girls at home – I don't see them too much at the moment with the extra hours I've been doing."

"Extra hours? Why would you do extra hours?" Ron looked horrified at the thought.

"As I've told you before, the goblins are not the kindest of creatures and I need time off after the baby is born to help Fleur so they've been making be do extra shifts." Bill explained.

"Bloody goblins," Ron muttered and Bill knew he was thinking about Griphook betraying them.

They finished up their lunch and Bill waved goodbye to his brothers who were heading back to the joke shop (via on George's request the florist) and turned the other direction up to Gringotts. The rest of the afternoon flew in rather quickly and Bill happily presented his finished report to Rangolf before apparating home.

"Daddy!" Victoire flew at him as he walked through the door.

Bill picked her up kissing her nose "have you had a good day princess?"

She nodded and then leaned close to his ear "Mama's been sad though and I asked her why. She said she wanted you to come home."

"Well I'm home now," Bill grinned "now why don't we go and find your mother."

"She's in the kitchen," Victoire whispered as if it was a brilliant secret.

"Well we better go and see her then," Bill replied putting her down and following her down the hall and into the kitchen.

Fleur was pulling a steak out of the oven while Dominique sat in her high chair chewing on a stick of raw carrot.

"Mama! Look you don't have to be sad, Daddy's home!" Victoire clapped her hands together laughing. Fleur turned round setting the tray on the counter and crossed the room in seconds pulling Bill into her arms – with slight difficulty due to her seven month pregnant stomach.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I was wrong to shut you out zis morning and snap at you last night."

Bill kissed the top of her head "its okay; it must just be the baby."

Fleur hesitated and turned to Victoire "Darling, would you go and get a cushion from my bedroom?"

Victoire nodded and scampered off.

"What is it?" Bill asked knowing it wasn't for Victoire's ears and Dominique was to busy playing with her carrot sticks.

"I got a letter from Gabrielle yesterday," Fleur explained "Pierre left her and I don't know why but I spent all of yesterday zinking zat you would eventually leave me too. And zen you came in with zat loving smile of yours and eet scared me because I couldn't live without zat smile every evening. And I know deep down you would never do zat to me and ze girls but I was scared."

Bill was shocked Fleur was even thinking these things "I promise you, I won't ever leave you. I love you so much and it would destroy me to hurt you in such a way."

Fleur turned her head and reached up to catch his lips with her own "I love you."

"Eww, kissing," Victoire appeared beside them with three different cushions "I didn't know what colour you wanted."

Bill chuckled "why don't you decide Victoire."

"Non, non, Bill," Fleur shook her head "Eet has to be ze orange one."

"That's what I thought," Victoire giggled putting the cushion on her mother's chair at the table.

"Is your back sore again?" Bill realised stroking his wife's back.

"Eet will be worth it in ze end," Fleur sighed moving back toward the counter to finish their dinner.

"Sit down, I'll finish it, looks like it just needs put on plates anyway," Bill instructed knowing Fleur needed the rest after looking after the girls all day.

Fleur sighed "alright. Dominique, be careful with those – you're meant to eat zem."

Bill turned around just in time for a carrot stick to fly past his face and see Dominique and Victoire laughing while Fleur tried to keep a straight face with her hands folded across her stomach. Fleur was right, it was definitely all worth it.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter because I'm not 100% happy with it. Also I don't know how Ron and George ended up in there but I didn't have the heart to take them out. I wanted to show Bill as a dad/husband but those Weasley brothers make it into all my stories somehow.

Next chapter is currently not started as I'm not sure whose POV to use although there will definately be a Ron chapter closer to the end. I might do Teddy next but I'm not sure. There will be about 4 more chapters I think.

Chapter published: 14/04/2014

Thanks!