So I've put this up without it being read through but hopefully my twin, watchitstark, will eventually look through it. Probably. I mean I'm going to email her but it's out of my hands.

Hermione let her fingers trail over the ivory keys of the piano, plinking out the last few notes of the piece she had been playing. Never had she been more glad that the manager of the bookshop had offered her the position of in-house pianist, the familiarity of coaxing a song out of the instrument instantly calming her. As a British middle class child piano and ballet had been staples in her childhood, although she'd dropped ballet as soon as her mother had allowed her to to focus her passions on the keys in front of her. Once at Hogwarts she'd lost the opportunity to play until 5th year when they'd found the Room of Requirement. Turned out that inside the Room of Hidden Things there was a very nice, working piano for her to use whenever she felt the need, which became more and more often as her feelings for her Transfiguration professor continued to climb and overwhelm her. The opportunity to play it all out, maybe sing a couple of love songs at the top of her lungs, was a much welcomed respite. She was beyond glad that she's secured the job as the in house piano player for this fancy bookshop as it meant that she could continue to play out her loss, trying to play out the broken nature of her heart and how it had cracked when she'd walked away from Minerva McGonagall for the last time.

The young witch was happy here, renting the flat above the shop while she attended her lectures. She was taking a muggle Ancient History and Politics degree at Oxford, essentially giving herself 3 years off to do a completely impractical degree before she furthered her magical studies. Her ties from the magical world had all been purposefully severed to give herself a break from that life. There was a large part of her that would always be magical, yes, but she'd spent too long doing things the easy magical way.

Entering her second year of self-imposed exile and she felt extremely good about her decision. Her confidence and personality had flourished at University, the atmosphere just perfect for her with like minded individuals and people who were actually supportive of her intelligence instead of just feeding off it. It was such a relief to not have to dumb herself down for her peers.

Without much thought her fingers began tapping out a faster melody in honour of the happy nature of her thoughts. The music was just beginning to absorb her whole attention when a shadow fell over her piano. When she looked up her fingers immediately froze.

There, gazing back at her, were the emerald coloured eyes she'd fallen in love with so long ago. There, stood in front of her, was Minerva McGonagall.

"Pro-Professor? What are you doing here?"

"I should think the more important question should be what are you doing here? Nobody's heard from you for more than a year! I was worried sick!" The older woman stepped around the piano, encroaching in Hermione's personal space so she could loom over her effectively. "Never do that to me again, do you hear me? Death Eaters could have gotten to you! You didn't even tell me you were alive!" As she lectured Hermione Minerva's accent became more and more prominent.

"Professor-"

"No! You do not get to look up at me with those pleading eyes and act like everything is fine! Why - didn't - you - tell - me?" She punctuated each word with a firm poke to a shoulder.

Hermione bit her lip and looked towards the floor, unable to bear the intense green eyes boring into her. "Wait, are you wearing jeans?"

McGonagall positively growled, although she couldn't hide the blush that rose to her cheeks. "Miss Granger could you please get back to the topic in hand?"

"Sorry, sorry, just damn you look good. You should wear muggle clothes more often." Hermione raked her eyes over her former professor.

"I hardly think that would go over well in a classroom environment."

"You may be right, you'd have to beat off all the boys and half the girls with sticks. Anyway, would you like to go for lunch? My break's about to start and there's a nice café around the corner we can talk in."

"And you won't run off and never talk to me again for another year?"

"Promise."

McGonagall finally stopped towering over the younger girl, moving back around to the other side of the piano. "I didn't know that you could play?"

"I'm a British middle class stereotype, of course I can. My parents insisted that I take this and ballet."

"British middle class stereotype?"

"Oh, I guess it's a muggle thing." She finished collecting her bag and sheet music, leading the way out the shop.

They walked in silence until they reached the café where they quietly ordered and sat at a small, circular table tucked away in the corner. Hermione discreetly applied a muffilato charm to their table so they could talk about magical matters without raising suspicion.

"Isn't that one of Severus's spells?" Minerva asked, blowing lightly on her tea. "Actually, I probably don't want to know how you three got your hands on it."

Hermione chuckled. "Plausible deniability?"

"Exactly." Minerva turned her sharp eyes on Hermione. "Anyway, would you like to explain exactly what you thought you were doing, rushing away before the dust had even settled?"

"I... Needed some time away from all that, you know? I mean, I knew I was going to be famous, I already was in a way, and I just couldn't face it. Plus, the thought of celebrating after all that... I just couldn't do it. So that night I took a portkey to Australia, restored my parents' memories, and applied to University. Here I am, a year later, not regretting a thing. Well, okay, I do regret not finding a way to tell you I hadn't been kidnapped, but I thought Harry would keep you abreast of everything I told him."

"He did, yes, but you didn't tell him nearly enough."

"I didn't want him to me, although that point seems moot now that you have."

Minerva sighed gustily. "If you don't want me to tell anyone where you are, I won't."

"Thank you. Thank you so much." Hermione smiled weakly. "So how are they? Harry and Ginny married yet?"

McGonagall shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Not exactly."

Hermione's eyes widened and she gasped delightedly. "No! Don't tell me they finally realised that they were using each other as beards and were actually really, really gay?"

"Well, ah, yes they did. Mr Potter seems to be seeing a newly reformed Draco Malfoy and Miss Weasley has been, well..."

"Is she sleeping with the entirety of the Holyhead Harpies? Back when I came out she said if she was gay that's what she'd do. I am so happy for them! I was worried without me there to bang their heads together they'd be stuck together forever."

McGonagall seemed more than a little shell-shocked. "You-you're gay? I owe Rolanda 10 galleons."

"So the rumours you bet on which students are gay is true! Me being gay isn't a problem is it?"

"No, no, of course not. I, well, me too."

"Knew it! Harry owes me 25 galleons for that." Hermione leaned back in her chair with a smirk. "Are the rumours about you and Hooch true then?"

"You should know by now that rumours tend to be more false than true."

"Well yeah, of course the ones about you and Dumbledore were false. But in sixth year there was one about me being incredibly gay and that was accurate so you never know."

"Do Harry and Ron know?"

'Yeah, of course, I told them back in 4th year when I started crushing on Fleur Delacour. I definitely didn't want to just be friends with her, let's put it like that."

"She's not exactly a good indicator, I think most of the girls thought they were at least a little bit gay that year."

"Eh, true. I was just the final nail in the coffin for me. Anyway, back to you and Hooch." Hermione's eyes sparkled with mischief. "Was the locker room story true?"

"Which one?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"Ooooh you naughty minx."

McGonagall rolled her eyes even as she smirked widely. "Well there was a certain rumour about you and the Slytherin girls..."

"Was that the one where I had my wicked way with all the girls from 5th year and up or the one where it was just Pansy but it included whips and chains?"

"Both? Either?"

A slow smirk spread across the younger girls face. "All I'm gonna say is that there were no whips and chains involved, the rest you can imagine for yourself."

"Not as straight laced as you like to pretend, Miss Granger?"

"That would make two of us."

"So, what are you studying? Something magic, I hope?"

"Erm no, I'm doing muggle ancient history and politics. It's my reward to myself, I'm taking a break by doing something I truly want to. It's so interesting and I'm enjoying myself immensely."

"What are you going to do after? For a job?"

"Well I was going to do a magical course, maybe an apprenticeship, do it the traditional way. I have 2 years left of this course and then I can move onto the magical side of my education."

Minerva frowned slightly. "I'm honestly surprised you aren't doing both. Oxford offers some of the best magical courses out there and doing both a magical and muggle course isn't that rare."

"I was taking a break from everything magical, honestly. I even stopped using magic for most of last year, only taking my wand with me for self defence. Words are the only type of magic I've been doing lately."

"But you're skills in magic are unparalleled! What a waste..."

"I've picked my wand back up, don't worry. I've started experimenting with some spell creation, the practical application of arithmancy, that sort of thing. Oh, and the addition of runes to wards is a truly fascinating concept. I was going to maybe enroll in magical classes after Christmas." She sighed. "I'm just worried about them staring at me, y'know? I mean I'm the Hermione Granger, no matter how much I don't wish to be."

"Mr Potter seems to be struggling with it also. Mr Weasley, however, looks like he's loving it."

"Both of them are so predictable." Hermione smiled fondly. "I think it might be time for me to go back to the Wizarding World."

"I think it might be long overdue. What were you saying earlier about using runes in wards? I read a very interesting article..."

And suddenly the two women were off and debating, as if they were back in sixth year and drinking tea in Minerva's office.

Hermione looked down at her empty cup and her eyes fell on her watch. She gasped when she saw they'd been there for 2 and a half hours. "Fuck! I'm supposed to be working!"

"Language, Miss Granger." Minerva scolded with a smirk.

"I'm a Uni student, you haven't heard the half of it." Without thought she leaned over and kissed Minerva's cheek while pulling her into a half hug, the customary goodbye for all her female friends. "God, I've missed you, I really have. I'll owl you." With that Hermione was up and rushing out the door, leaving Minerva sat at the table, blinking slowly, beyond words.