2002

She bit her lip as she looked at the hunched human being at the bar.

In the shadows his short messy hair looks black but she knew it was a dark chestnut and that when she knew him it was beautiful curls that she envied-greatly most of fourth year. She had noticed him a couple hours before when she had taken a break from her dissertation notes. Mind full of magical reagents and temperature calculations she didn't notice him until her way back to her scroll and book covered table. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a flicker of light green then a head go down and it wasn't until she was seated and had a quill in her hand editing another page that she realized who it was, Theodore Nott was sitting at the bar.

Perhaps she had been a bit caught up in her studies lately and had missed the parole hearing news in the papers, though that seemed unlikely. Someone would have mentioned it and certainly Harry would have owled her about the first Death Eaters being released from Azkaban. Maybe not though, if he thought it wouldn't bother her at all, since they had privately agreed many of the younger ones had basically no choice but be marked or die. Die or watch someone else be tortured in addition to your own was barely a choice.

That was over two hours ago and she was finishing up this round of editing and more than ready for a meal. Not eating around the nearly complete scrolls led to hunger often now but it was better than the curry incident of nearly ten months ago. It had meant a rewrite and after only two months of work that took nearly two weeks. If it happened now there was no way to finish it on time. Registered Academic Scrolls were Tightly regulated and didn't allow for copying of any kind. Regardless of the scrolls properties now it was time to eat and she was certain not another moment could pass with someone she knew and in many ways admired as an academic rival in nearly statue like stillness, totally alone.

Gryffindor courage in her minds forefront she walked straight to the bar with her upgraded tote, the beaded bags successor, and sat beside the young man. Catching the bar tenders eye she smiled and pretended she hadn't a clue who she was sitting next to. As Tom walked towards her his eyes flicked to Nott and then back to her. She gave a small nod and he understood she knew who he was and the grin in response to her singled two and gesture towards the board indicating the dinner special made her lips twitch in response. Next he brought her a bottle of Bulgarian Firewhiskey he kept behind the bar that was already half empty and two glasses. She put a couple fingers of whiskey into each glass and pushed the cork back in the bottle opening. She could tell Nott was aware of her actions and his shoulders slumped slightly.

"Oh no Nott, I will not obligingly pretend you aren't sitting here alone at the bar." Hermione had a small grin on her face at the slight pout on his lips and his extended blink time. Clearly he was weighing his response.

"Why would you want to talk to me Granger?" He still hadn't met her eyes.

"Not to many people can keep up with me Nott, if you want you can ask me what I've been doing and then we can have a fantastic discussion about my research dissertation." His eyes suddenly snapped to hers and there was to much going on in them for Hermione to clearly read the emotions.

Several of her hand stretching moments over the past hours had been spent thinking about how she could talk to him and then why she wanted to. Often she avoided others her own age, their words often left her rattled. Perhaps Harry was right when he told her that war made some feel things more deeply and others try not to feel. Raw was the best way to describe how she felt in the post war period. Which to her was still very much ongoing. Some patching had been done and much of the physical damage was finally finished or nearing its completion. Housing had been built and small communities established. Just this past September Hogwarts was declared reconstructed completely and only projects began after the war were still ongoing. Most of Diagon Alley was populated with shops now and a few changes were being made as people began to have children again, in numbers not seen since the 1930s. Regardless it seemed Wizarding Britain was coming back to life and that was a welcome change. However Hermione didn't feel that it was coming together. She felt a real line between people, where your role in the war decided the class of citizen you were. Those that had ties to Voldemort, those that were neutral or victims, and those that fought back. These lines were blurry but she had noticed in the past year the celebrities and gossip pages very quietly placing emphasis on this issue. Also important positions and titles were going to the new version of the powerful with little thought to the unity of magical Britain. The real history of magical Britain included families and tales from the very people whose power was being stripped away and their traditions dismantled. Blood supremacy was not right, neither was systematically destroying a culture in anger.

All of this had led to understanding her need to speak to Theodore Nott, they needn't be friends but could and should be associates. In a regular non magical life she would have relished the competition between them. They should have been able to argue and debate. Work together occasionally and really push the limits. She wanted the opportunities taken by blood prejudice back and the walls made by guilt and uncertainty torn down. Of course she could do little outside of her own interactions and so she was going to do this.

"Wanting to hear your thoughts on academia is not a new concept for me and I hope there was at least one time you wished you could have talked to me about something in school. I doubt Malfoy enjoyed debating minutia as much as you or I do." Hermione kept her time friendly but looked him in the eye as she spoke. He was a Slytherin, she has always thought of him as exhibiting the best and worst of the inevitable characteristics that made up his house. He was so inscrutable when he wanted to be that it made communication difficult and came across as superior and intimidating. On the other hand he was nuanced and spoke with meaning, understood the meanings of small inflections and word choice.

"There were books in there, it was a new thing for Azkaban. I was surprised but at the moment I am just grateful that we were allowed to take the written portion of the NEWTs. It gave me something to do but most importantly allowed me to think." It was he who was holding eye contact now and Hermione heard even tones even as she saw the flickers of less controlled emotion in the light green eyes meeting hers.

Hermione was uncertain what to say, how much he would want to speak of here or with her at all. Anything was okay with her, Sirius had times he wanted to talk and times she just didn't want him to be alone with his thoughts. Further from the few remaining dementors his exposure would have been less but single cells and spells preventing communication without permission were heavy burdens on their own. With relief she watching his reach for the glass and turn towards her a bit before he put his head down and started a conversation.

"So tell me what program you are taking before he subject of your dissertation. It could be anything you deemed interesting or worthy." She could tell he was interested and that the lack of eye contact was defensive, no matter.

"It started with Healers training after Hogwarts. Not many of our year could or did come back to school that September. It was just me and I had time so I interned with Madam Pomphrey and was ready for the Healer exams in August. I realized quickly that there wasn't enough time outside of rounds and patient care for in depth research and wouldn't be until I was a senior healer after eight years. You know this of course, but I didn't understand that it wouldn't be allowed in addition to the schedule barely permitting it. Anyways I completed one year of spell damage before I walked out. Then I looked into magical apprenticeships and realized the wars had left few great witches or wizards intact to teach or create in Britain." He was looking at her now and seemed genuinely interested and looked as if he wanted to break into her story several times. Tom arrived with the plates of food and Theo just looked at her until she made a go on gesture with her hand and waited for him to speak while she dug into her meal.

"No Head Girl Granger? McGonagall would have bent over backwards to give it to you." She was a bit surprised at his question until she looked up from the steak pie and noticed his small grin. She grinned back and related the conversation and restrictions that made it clear she couldn't be under such scrutiny or have such stringent restrictions on her.

"Why didn't you challenge the NEWTs on your own then?" This was more of a personal question for Hermione though maybe he didn't mean to probe into her private life. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that she wanted to build bridges, to see how far she could explore a world without arbitrary lines of hate.

"I didn't have anywhere else to go, or that's what it felt like to me. I needed to go home and mine was not one without my parents. The Burrow was not my home either. Hogwarts was the only one opened to me. So I went and was alone there instead. If you didn't live with darkness how could you understand? Honestly Nott, most things seem unimportant to me, the everyday issues and petty whining most people do. I am different than I was, the books didn't expect anything and that was easier than the world who didn't understand me." She was the one looking down now. Helpless not to feel vulnerable in front of this person who was less than a stranger but more difficult to trust for exactly that reason.

Eventually she looked up and the emotion that raged in his eyes told her he understood much from her few words. There would be no judgement from him, her quirks and issues that weren't dealt with. Short temper and isolationist habits would be clearly explainable to this person. A bridge. He was holding his fork tighter than he needed and there was a slight shake in his hand as he put his glass down that told her, this person is not alright either and could not pretend he was.

Why was he sitting with his back to the open bar then? She could only sit here like this because he was also here, Tom kept a close eye on his bar and she was forcing herself not to double check her wand holster hadn't mysteriously malfunctioned in the minutes since she checked on the way over here. This was stupid. She wouldn't have to explain why she wanted to move or make some banal excuse, maybe he wouldn't look at her like Harry did. With understanding but a clear wish she wouldn't feel the need to do this anymore.

"I'd rather sit in the booth." She was looking at him when he looked up at her and she saw his eyes flick to the empty corner booth on the wall away from the window that she had been sitting in before coming over. Understanding was in his eyes in an instant and he stood and grabbed his plate and glass.

"Lead the way." So Hermione walked to the booth that would enable them both to have their backs to the wall and easily view patrons and the window. Both assessed their surroundings after sitting and Theo held up the bottle questioningly. Her nod and question about the Charms NEWT started the conversation again and hours passed. They switched to tea at seven in the evening and shut the place down with Tom at eleven. Bridge built indeed Hermione thought as she smiled to herself and spun into blackness, still holding the papers they had made notes and diagrams on.