Salient

A/N: This story stems from my story Portent, and like that one this is NOT Cursed Child compliant. You have been warned. You do not need to read Portent first, this story comes before that story and we'll see how far I take it. I'll probably take it at least to where Portent is.

A/N: Next chapter goes up on July 20.

A/N: I know my posting has decreased in quantity. Life has gone crazy so I'm running on bare minimum right now. Everything should mellow back out in August, but this month will probably revolve around this story and Patient with a Saudade or Ojala chapter thrown in from time to time. Thanks for understanding!

He was going to quit.

He was going to admit defeat and drop his classes and see if Aunt Hermione could find him someplace interesting to work for the rest of his life. Albus Potter was finished trying to make Muggle technology work around magic. It had been a pipe dream and he should have seen it as one. He'd spent a full year and a half in university trying to figure out what he was missing and nothing was working. He was wasting money and his life trying to solve something that was unsolvable and he was an idiot for thinking he was different and could figure it out.

Al shoved the ruined laptop into the duffle bag his dad converted for him, hearing it clatter as it fell to the bottom. They were only two weeks into the semester but he already had a decent amount of work to be done on top of his stupid experimenting. Al stared at the textbooks for a long moment before shaking his head. He holstered his wand beneath his shirt, grabbed his phone, and went for a walk.

It was cold, but Al was grateful for it. The freezing air around him seemed to numb his brain a bit too, giving him a momentary respite from his thoughts. He didn't pay attention to where he was walking, Al just walked. He must have looked like a crazy person as he would randomly decide to turn back and take a turn he had initially decided against. Aunt Hermione called it part of his innovative character, but Al wondered if she was mixing up the words innovative and insane.

He'd been walking for nearly forty-five minutes when his body finally started rebelling with pain. Al ducked into the first available door hoping to warm up just enough before pushing out into the cold to freeze his brain again. But as the door shut, Al felt himself freeze for a completely different reason than the weather.

His eyes had fallen on a woman who took the breath from his lungs faster than the winter air had. She had dark mahogany colored hair pulled back and pinned into a bun. Her eyes were dark, almost black, and she was talking with an accent Al thought he had heard before but nothing like this; and he never wanted to stop hearing it.

"If it's just you, pull up a seat at the counter," the woman smiled at him. "I'll be right with you."

Al finally took a moment to look around. He had apparently walked into a small caff. A voice in his head told him that he would have called it a dive if this lovely woman hadn't been standing in it. There were five small booths and a long counter that ran nearly the length of the narrow building. Al slid onto one of the stools at the counter just as the beautiful waitress had instructed.

She came around the counter from the table that she'd just delivered their order and pulled out a pad and pen.

"What can I get you?"

Al blinked, realizing that he hadn't really thought about the fact that he was in a restaurant and therefore would need to order something to eat or drink.

"Er," he hedged trying to find a menu.

"Look up, green eyes," she chuckled, pointing her pen upward.

Al looked up to find a blackboard with the menu scrawled across it in white chalk. Al picked the first two things that looked good and in his price range.

"Peppermint tea and a spinach omelet, please."

The beauty smiled at him, "Good choices, I'll be back."

Al watched her go, and he felt something a lot like magic.

Well, that kind of magic too but specifically real magic. As the gorgeous woman walked away, Al would have sworn on Merlin's grave that he felt magic in the air. He'd spent the last few years trying to make magic and Muggle technology co-exist, and he'd become somewhat adept at sensing when magic was around him. Al felt magic when his waitress turned and walked back to the kitchen, and felt it fade as she disappeared behind the door.

Al's bad morning of experimenting was now far from his brain. He was completely focused on a new goal, getting this woman's name, and maybe her number if he was lucky.

She appeared through the door with a mug of steaming water and plate with tea bags and milk and sugar. The magic wasn't there, well the real magic wasn't but Al still had stars in his eyes for this stunning creature. So much so that he utilized advice about chatting up a girl he got from Jamie while they were both still at Hogwarts.

"Thanks," he smiled at her as she set down his drink, "I'm sure you get asked all the time," he paused, hoping she would fill in the blank with the obvious question of where she was from before throwing what Jamie called a side pass, "but where do you get your aprons?"

The woman looked at him confused for a moment before a smile took over her face and she laughed, a clear and joyous sound that made Al want to listen to it on his phone on repeat all day.

"I'm from St. John's, Newfoundland. It's a Canadian island."

Al grinned, she didn't give him her name but she told him where she was from. He decided that was progress.

"That's brilliant. I'm Al, by the way."

"Ellie," she offered him her hand before pulling back and huffing. "Sorry, my boss gets mad when I shake hands with customers, says it's a waste of time for me to keep washing my hands."

Al chuckled, "Maybe I could take you up on the handshake after your shift?"

Ellie's face turned a pretty shade of red and she made a motion like she might like to behind her hair if it wasn't pulled back.

"I'll think about it." She smiled at him before turning and heading over to one of the tables.

And the magic was back. Al was almost too distracted by the magic he felt around him to fully appreciate the figurative magic he felt with Ellie. But Al was too much of a geek to not want to solve this puzzle.

He stirred his milk and sugar into his tea while he thought through what he knew. First, Ellie was gorgeous and he definitely wanted to get to know her. Second, every time Ellie had walked away from him, he sensed that there was real magic around her. Third, it was only when her back was turned to him that he sensed it.

Ellie slipped back into the kitchen and Al determined he was just as interested in her walking away from him as he was in her walking toward him. The next time she walked away, he'd pay attention. Maybe she had some magical item?

Maybe, maybe she was a witch?

Al didn't let his brain go down that latter road. He didn't want to set expectations for her. He didn't have a problem dating Muggles. He'd dated a couple of Muggle girls in the year or so he'd been living in the Muggle world full time, granted he never felt close enough to try and figure out how to approach the bombshell of him being a wizard, but lots of people had things they didn't immediately share in a new relationship, and sometimes a relationship never developed to a point for those things to come up. He just had a bit of a huge secret along with the little things like a Star Wars obsession.

The prospect of dating a witch was sort of exciting seeing as he hadn't dated a witch since Hogwarts, let alone a witch who was living in the Muggle world as he was. That was too much to hope for.

He was pulled from his thoughts when the door to the kitchen opened and Ellie walked out with a tray of food. She delivered Al's plate last along with a shy smile.

"I work Tuesdays and Thursdays from open to close," she said quietly while wiping down a section of the counter. Al noticed that it didn't need to be cleaned, which gave him a bit of a smug feeling in his chest.

"The whole day?"

Ellie's cheeks flushed but she smiled, "This place is open from six till two, and wait staff shows up at half five and stays till usually three to clean up."

Al leaned closer to her over the counter. "Well, that's very good news because I don't have class on either of those days until after lunch."

Ellie busied herself behind the counter with filing napkin holders. "Are you at uni here too?"

Al nodded as he cut into his omelet. "What are you studying?"

"Art," Ellie sighed happily. "What about you?"

"Information Technology, Computer Science, and a minor in Computer Engineering." Al shoved a bite of omelet into his mouth and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. He was also surprised that Ellie didn't immediately freak out at his degree choices. Even the professors called him crazy.

"There's something about you," she set the napkin holder down, "and I can't place my finger on it, but there's something about you that's not like most blokes who come in here."

Al held her gaze, forcing his eyes not to drop to her lips because, Merlin, this woman was going to be the death of him and he'd known her for less than thirty minutes.

"There's something magical about you too."

She blushed and Al wondered if he'd dropped enough of a hint. How does one go about asking if another is a witch?

The order bell rang and Ellie started before winking at Al and walking back toward the kitchen.

Al focused on the magic that radiated from her retreating form, trying to sense what it was. The magic was focused around her head, he realized, but there was nothing out of the ordinary about her head. Her dark hair was twisted up into a bun and...

He just caught sight of it as she walked behind the door, a long white hair pin stick. Whatever that was, it wasn't Muggle-made.

And a part of Al's brain wanted it to be a wand.

Everything about how it felt made Al believe it was a wand. It was shorter than his, probably nine inches, but while his wand looked like a stick, the pin in Ellie's hair looked to be a piece of artwork. It wasn't quite white, more of an ivory color, and Al thought he saw what looked like designs carved into it.

It was beautiful.

Al finished his omelet, watching the kitchen door for Ellie to reappear, though he had no idea what he was going to say.

Before that little technicality could come to mind, Ellie appeared with his bill.

"So, if you're ever in the market for an omelet, you should come back." She didn't look at him as she busied herself with straightening the salt and pepper shakers.

"I'm a big fan of omelets," Al handed her his card. As his brain was about to kick him for such a pathetic comment, Ellie turned around to the cash register and Al got a full view of what he thought of now as her magical hairpin.

It was definitely magical, and he'd been right that there were designs carved into it. They looked a little bit like runes, but nothing like what he'd studied at Hogwarts. It was striking in her dark hair and Al briefly was tempted to ask if he could hold it. But Ellie turned around with his card and receipt.

"Then I guess I'll see you the next time you want another omelet." As she handed back his card, her fingers brushed against his and Al resisted the urge to grab her hand.

"Brilliant," was all Al managed to say before Ellie pulled away and Al was left wishing that it wasn't quite so cold out. He was no longer interested in numbing his brain. He was interested in keeping it functioning so he could figure out how to ask Ellie out on a date and maybe find out if she was a witch.