Say You Won't Let Go || Bill Weasley

Five: Fireworks

Isabelle never wanted the break to end, but unfortunately, time was betraying her. The new year was quickly approaching and her time with the Weasley family was nearing its end. With only a few days left, Isabelle neatly put all of her gifts in her trunk, including the new Quidditch gloves Charlie had given her the morning after Christmas before he had to return to Romania. Apparently, dragons never take a holiday.

New Year's Eve was tomorrow, and Isabelle and the Weasley family were determined to make the best of it. For now, though, Isabelle was exhausted. She closed her trunk and went to bed. She wrapped herself up in the warm blankets and it didn't take long for her to drift into a not-so-peaceful sleep.

——————

Bill had stayed up late that night, sitting in the kitchen trying to finish up some last-minute paperwork for Gringotts that he had neglected to take care of earlier. Pushing through droopy eyes and multiple yawns, he finally finished and was grateful to go to bed. He made his way up the stairs quietly and almost made it past Isabelle's room before hearing the sounds of rustling that made him stop in his tracks. He knocked on the door gently a few times. After only hearing a soft sniffle in response, he opened the door slowly.

He couldn't see much other than Isabelle's silhouette, sitting up in bed and shaking slightly. He heard the same faint sniffle sounds as before and slowly walked towards her.

"Isabelle?" Bill said softly, touching her shoulder gently as if she were made of glass.

"Sorry," Isabelle sniffed again, wiping a few fallen tears from her face. "I didn't mean to wake you."

Bill shook his head. "You didn't. I was just heading to bed. What's wrong? Nightmare?"

Isabelle nodded. Bill sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around him gently and quietly cried into his shoulder.

When she had finally calmed down, Bill pulled away from the hug and instead cupped her face with his hands carefully. He wiped her remaining tears away with his thumb gently.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked.

"Not really," Isabelle said. She had suffered from nightmares her entire childhood. They got much better and less frequent when she got older, but never completely went away. No one ever knew why she had them. She hadn't gone through any traumatic events or loss that would explain them. They were just always there. Most of the time they didn't even make sense but she always woke up in tears.

Bill nodded in understanding. After a few minutes, he spoke reluctantly. "I guess I should go. You should try to get some sleep."

Before he could even stand, Isabelle grabbed his hand.

"Would it be weird if I asked you to stay with me?" Isabelle asked quietly.

Bill let out a soft chuckle. "Of course not." He pulled up the blanket she was under carefully and moved so he was laying on his back next to her. Isabelle instantly cuddled close to him, resting her head on his chest. Bill hoped she wouldn't notice how fast his heart was beating. He wrapped his arms around her protectively and watched her slowly drift back to sleep, this time dreamless. Bill knew that from that point forward, he wanted to always be there for her, no matter what.

——————

"Okay, so if wizards celebrate Christmas, then obviously you guys believe in like Jesus and all that to some degree, right?" Isabelle asked.

Bill was quiet for a second before nodding with a laugh.

The two were both laying on the grass outside, as the snow had melted a few days ago. They were staring up at the clear night sky. The light pollution in London made it difficult to see the stars, but here Isabelle had never seen it so beautiful.

They both chose not to speak of the events from the night before, but it wasn't really awkward either. Unlike the night before, though, they were laying several inches apart. The rest of the family was around, chatting or enjoying their own silence while they counted down the minutes until the new year.

"So does that mean Jesus was a wizard, too?" Isabelle asked, rolling onto her side to look at Bill.

Bill turned his head to look back at her. "I suppose so." There was a few moments of silence before both of them burst into laughter.

It was evident that the two of them had had more than a few sips of some firewhiskey. Molly was clearly against the idea at first but ultimately decided that they were of age and would rather Percy and Isabelle try it for the first time (as far as she knew) under supervision.

"I knew it! I told Mum and she didn't believe me!" Isabelle exclaimed, falling back onto her back, and took a breath. "That's been bothering me since first year."

"Why didn't you just ask Percy?"

"I tried. He just rolled his eyes at me. Can you believe that?" Isabelle said.

"He does do that a lot, doesn't he?" Bill chuckled.

Isabelle moved close to him so he could hear her whisper. "It's because he's a prat."

"I don't think he knows that though," Bill whispered back, a smile growing on his lips.

"I don't think so either. But I'm a good friend so I'm going to let him keep believing he's not," she said, glancing up at Percy. He had heard it all, as their whispering wasn't exactly quiet or subtle. He rolled his eyes at her before returning to his book.

Bill and Isabelle fell into a fit of giggles. Isabelle looked back at Bill and noticed he was quietly staring at her.

"What's that look for?"

"Nothing," Bill shook his head. "You're just... so beautiful," he said. Bill wasn't much of a drinker but it tended to give him a bit of a confidence boost, and a lack of a filter.

Isabelle blushed deeply. "You, um, you're not too bad yourself."

Bill raised an eyebrow. "You think I'm pretty?" he joked.

Isabelle smacked him on the chest lightly. "You know what I meant."

They had barely heard the family counting down from ten when the conversation was interrupted by the sound of the banging of fireworks above them as the family yelled "Happy New Year!" They were beautiful explosions of every color you could think of. Isabelle watched them in amazement, not even noticing the twins' looks of pride.

As if he had been filled with a rush of adrenaline, Bill sat up quickly and moved to where he and Isabelle's faces were centimeters away.

Both Isabelle and Bill were silent for half a heartbeat.

"Can I kiss you?" Bill whispered, barely audible because of the fireworks continuing to go off above them.

Isabelle, who was practically holding her breath, didn't hesitate to nod quickly. Within a second she felt Bill's soft lips press against hers and she melted against him. Isabelle laid back onto the grass and Bill followed her, not breaking away from the kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair gently, causing him to smile against her lips. At that point, neither of them could tell if the fireworks had stopped around them or not because they held their own within their hearts at that moment.