Disclaimer: All credit where credit is due, particularly to the esteemed J.K. Rowling.

"It is not only the living who are killed in war." Isaac Asimov

"Oh, good. You're here. I have quite the case for you today. Just came in last night." The familiar voice penetrated the other sounds that floated around Hermione's head as soon as she walked into the doors of the facility. She turned to look at the woman beside her, a decade her senior, though the years had been kind and had allowed the woman to retain a youthful and energetic glow. Hermione smiled at her boss, and reached for the folder that was offered to her.

"Oh?" Hermione asked, "Challenging client or challenging injury? Either way, Beth, you know I can handle it. Let me take a look." Flipping through the folder, Hermione wrinkled her brow in a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "Huh. So he's claiming that he broke his femur falling down the stairs? Seems unlikely. Have you met with him yet?"

Beth shook her head. "My thoughts exactly. That's why I assigned you this one. You're good at this, and I have a feeling there's more to the story. I fit his evaluation in after your 7 o'clock so you have a chance to go over the file." With a quick hug and a smile, her boss turned to walk away, but paused briefly and threw Hermione a cheeky wink, "Oh, and the nurses from the hospital say that this guy's pretty dreamy."

Hermione's cheeks flushed lightly, more out of annoyance than embarrassment. She had only been on the job a few months, but already her co-workers had started to meddle into her social life. Especially Beth. The older woman had taken a liking to Hermione and had decided that she would be the one to fix Hermione up with the most eligible bachelor she could find. The witch could not seem to convince Beth that she enjoyed her solitude. It had been over six years since her last relationship and she still rarely missed the days of planning her life around another person. Being single allowed her an amount of freedom that she wasn't sure she had could remember ever truly experiencing. It was tempting to modify a charm to cause the muggle to forget about Hermione's love life, but she had moved away from the Wizarding World to get away from magic, not to use it for her own personal gain. Besides, they all meant well. With a sigh, the bushy haired therapist snapped out of her thoughts and headed towards her office.

For an hour, Hermione poured over paperwork that she needed to get in order before the weekend. She hated to leave anything sitting for too long, so she always came in early on Fridays to make sure all the week's papers had been finished. After she'd crossed everything off of her to-do lists, she turned back to the file. It was certainly an unusual one, the femur wasn't an easy bone to break. Especially in a young man who appeared to be in otherwise perfect health. She scanned his file again, looking for clues, but couldn't find anything to ease her suspicions. Glancing at her watch, Hermione realized that it was almost 7:15 a.m. and her first client hadn't shown, which wasn't unusual. Her first client was an older woman who had severe joint pain and the cold snap had significantly affected her recovery. It wasn't unusual for the woman to just decide not to come in, though Hermione would always gently scold the lady and remind her that therapy would help with the pain, she also understood the decision.

When it was almost a quarter to eight, Hermione got the call that her next appointment was there. She headed down to the waiting room to collect the man. Stepping into the door, she froze when she saw the man sitting next to a blonde woman. His face had matured, but the features were undeniably familiar. Ted Nottingham. How had she not put it together before? Her paranoid post-war mind was always suspicious and she was usually hyper-aware of any threats to her safe haven but somehow the connection must have slipped past her because across the room, in the waiting room of a Muggle medical facility, mind you, sat one of her unmistakable childhood bullies turned mortal enemy, Theodore Nott.

"Merlin's bullocks."

Author's Note: Really short first chapter. Feeling the waters for this idea of a story.