Bill sighed as he entered the room set aside for Gabrielle before he went to work. Fluer was still in France, trying to find contacts for the Order and she had taken Fabian with her as a cover. He hated that she had to do this, but even more he hated the fact that she had been gone for so long. True, they had owls, and he had taken a portkey over last Thursday, but wanted his family home again. He would get his wish soon enough. Gabby was coming home for the weekend, as was Fleur, hopefully for the last time in a very long while.



He had to smile as he found Gabby’s room in disarray. Clothes were strewn about the floor as if she would walk through the door any second. Quietly, he began to pick thing up by hand, happy to have something to do. He found if he sat around too much he tended to broom. As he bent over to pick up an errant shirt, Bill knocked a box off her side table, spilling its contents.

Crouching down, he began to collect the treasures, his smile widening as he found a flower, under a stasis charm, from his wedding along with a picture of the pair of them right before she had gone back for her second year at school. Dropping the flower and photograph back into the box, he picked up a stack of drawings. He thought he remembered Gabby saying something about her boyfriend being an artist.

Bill laughed at the image of her wearing the half face mask. That boy, Gavin, certainly had captured his Gabby’s pout. Curious, he began to flip through the rest of the pictures to see what other expressions had been caught on paper. As he searched, his smile faded. While the great majority of them had been fairly innocent, and if Bill had felt like being charitable, quiet good, the last few certainly was not. Gabrielle was on a bed, nude save for her hair and the scrap of a blanked. Letting the rest of the drawings fall to the floor, he shoved the offending drawings into his pocket before setting the wards and apparating out.

He was quite thankful, now, that Gabby had needed him to apparate her to the boy’s place during the summer. It certainly made finding the little bugger that much easier. Bill rapped on the door, his wand at the ready, hidden by his crossed arms.

Gavin rolled out of bed as his father’s house-elf, Moose, informed him that a red giant was at the door. He had long ago given up on trying to decode the elf’s messages before his first cup of coffee and just went to the door. Sighing as he saw Gabrielle’s brother in law standing on the other side of the door, he resolved himself to a stern talking to. His girlfriend had blocked the inevitable threats as much as possible during the summer, but he had been lax about owling and she probably wasn’t feeling too charitable at the moment. What he wasn’t expecting was the hex to his bare chest at point blank range.

Bill stormed in, his wand raised. “Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn’t hex your bollocks off.”

Wincing at the pain, Gavin backed up, cursing himself as he realized he had left his wand back in the bedroom. “Look, I know I haven’t owled as much as I said I would.”

Snorting, Bill sent another hex in Gavin’s direction, happy to see the boy dance backwards in order to duck the spell. “Lack of owls on your part should be the least of your worries, bub.” He took the folded picture out of his pocked and tossed it to Gavin. “Explain.” He glared.

The younger man unfolded the piece of parchment, paling slightly as he realized what it contained. “It was perfectly innocent,” he tried to explain. The drawing had been perfectly innocent, it was only what had happed afterwards that might get him into trouble.

“She’s sixteen and you’re,” Bill glanced up and down Gavin’s body, “decidedly not. Give me one reason why I shouldn’t haul you over to the MLE.” He glared harder. “I have some very good friends over there.”

Gavin gulped. Really, this was all he needed. Another arrest, but this one would be harder to sweep under the rug. “She wasn’t forced or anything.” He glanced around, trying to calculate how long it would take him to get his wand from the other room. Too long, if he was up against a curse breaker.

“I know that.” Bill smiled, showing more teeth than was necessary. “That’s why I’m giving you a choice.” He paused, letting the words hand in the air. “Either you two break up or we take a little trip to the MLE.” Satisfied that he had made his point, the redhead turned to go, but not before adding, “You have until the end of the month.”


Summary: Bill gives an offer that can’t be refused.