A/N This takes place a month or two after the final battle in the Harry Potter Universe and sometime between Steve being unfrozen and the Avengers movie in the Marvelverse. And yes, I know the timelines don't match up.

Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I don't own.

Warning: This story may contain in-depth descriptions of grief and ptsd. When I started this story I had no intention of going this detailed into the emotional impact, but as I started writing this I couldn't help but feel I wouldn't be doing justice to the toll trauma takes on children if I glossed over all the awful stuff that happens in canon. If there's anything I think might be extra triggering then I will try to put up a separate warning.

Chapter 8

Hermione spent the whole of the next day reviewing the packet she had received from SHIELD. This time instead of a side table, she conjured a long glass coffee table and spread out all the files she had been given as well as a packet of colored highlighters and a pack of colored muggle pens. Muggle writing implements were much easier and cleaner to use than wizarding quills. She spent the least amount of time on the section of profiles of Mr. Stark and his known associates, though that wasn't to say she neglected it either. She read all about Mr. Stark's cohorts, like Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, and his best friend Colonel Rhodes. She made sure to keep track of what she was reasonably could know from news reports and what could only have been obtained as insider information. Luckily, for the boss himself there wasn't actually much of a distinction between the types of information, since the daft man was constantly tattling on himself. Although, Hermione thought that perhaps tattling wasn't exactly the right word.

Hermione couldn't tell if she thought Mr. Stark was arrogant or just extremely self-destructive with his documented behaviors. Fury's words from the day before seemed to indicate that he believed Tony Stark was just a menace, but the Hermione that had fought and survived a war, was well aware that there were plenty of ways to be a nuisance to the government that didn't have anything to do with what was right or wrong. Afterall, she had spent a year on the run from her government for the crime of existing and she knew that many other muggleborns had been kissed by the dementors. The Purebloods in her country weren't special though, plenty of other countries had made someone's existence a crime such as; the Nazis in Germany, South African Apartheid, and the Rohingya in Myanmar.

She sighed, maybe she wasn't being fair, it was always possible that Fury's assessment had to do with the astronomical amount of current property damage that Stark seemed to leave in his wake. Although, to be fair, she thought that if anyone had ever calculated just how much property damage, she herself, was responsible for, it might also be a pretty large number. After all, Hogwarts was a ruin at the moment, Gringotts was surely upset about their bank and their stolen dragon, and the number of priceless artifacts that had been broken during the fight at the Department of Mysteries in her fifth year was staggering.

She figured she would just have to meet Mr. Stark before making up her mind about the infamous inventor. She marked up a few things in his profile to keep in mind, such as the fact that he had an artificial intelligence system that no one was quite sure how far its reach extended, certainly all over his properties at the least and that he was often holed up in his lab rather than dealing with the day to day operations of Stark Industries.

However, what took up most of her study time was the information that SHIELD had on the Stark Industries' Clean Energy Project. She accidently skipped lunch, too enthralled by the information to even remember it despite the fact that she was trying to follow her nutrition plan to get her weight back to healthy and her magic more stable. She wrote detailed color-coded notes and questions in the margins. She made a mental note to herself that she would have to get some background texts for some of information and she gleefully wrote down a list of topics in a notebook. She threw herself into the assigned reading, feeling the spark of joy that reading and learning had used to give her before the war, before reading had only become what new charm or ward scheme could save her or Harry's life. She forced back a wave of tears and swallowed the lump in her throat. She was afraid that the war might have stolen that from her. It was the first time she had felt like herself in more than a year - maybe longer.

While her parents had never made her keep up with her muggle education they had always seemed to approve when she read muggle books over the summer in addition to her Hogwarts books, so Hermione had made sure to include plenty of muggle texts during her vacations and prior to the last two years, she had avidly keep up with current events around the world. She had always been the top of her class and proficient at self-study even prior to Hogwarts, so it had never been any trouble for her to learn muggle subjects from the texts instead of from a teacher. This material was far beyond what she had studied on her vacations though.

Reading about the complicated concepts SHIELD had managed to get ahold of for this packet of information on Stark's Clean Energy Project made Hermione want to pick back up her studies. While she was fascinated by the history of the project, she was most interested in the engineering and science of it and of course, the humanitarian aspect. If this worked like Stark thought it would the project could help a lot of people potentially all over the world. Stark had come a long way since being a weapons manufacturer for the government in her opinion. Her fingers practically itched to get her hands on some of these materials. She wanted to read everything about it and she already had a list of topics she would be headed to the library to look up for a little light reading after her interview regardless of how it turned out.

A sharp knock came at the front door. Hermione started and darted her gaze up to her door from her place on the floor. "This is getting ridiculous. I've got to remember to put up a proximity ward, so I'm not always jumping every time someone is at the front door," she grumbled lowly to herself. She pulled the end of a pen out of her mouth, left it in the binder to mark her place, and then closed the binder and covered any loose documents. She wasn't sure who was at her door, since not many people knew where she lived, but she didn't need anyone looking at her assignment that didn't need to know and as far as she was concerned, no one else needed to know.

She fingered her wand in the pocket of Harry's sweatpants, that she had nicked during sixth year, and glanced through the peep hole of her door. Surprised, she quickly unlocked and yanked the door open immediately. "Steve? What are you doing here?"

Steve suppressed a smile at the sight of Hermione answering the door. She was in sweatpants that were a size too big for her, a baggy t-shirt, and her hair was pulled back in some sort of wild bushy mess – clearly the natural state of her hair. She was kind of adorable and fluffy looking like this, though he had enough sense not to say that out loud.

Hermione widened her eyes and felt the color drain from her face. She crossed her arms under her chest as she noted Steve's perusal. Not only was she dressed like a hobo, but she hadn't been expecting company and had forgone glamouring the scar on her arm today. She could only hope that she had hid the lettering well enough before he had noticed.

She dropped the tension in her shoulders. Considering the fact that he wasn't staring at her arm and he didn't look appalled, she was sure she had managed to avoid it in time and being tense was a sure way to raise anyone's suspicions. Between the horrified staring and outpouring of pity, everyone who had glimpsed her scar before had managed to make her feel even more self-conscious about it. She didn't want to discuss it with anyone ever and she certainly didn't want Steve's pity.

Steve flicked his eyes back to her face and he could feel the heat of a flush creeping onto his cheeks. When she had crossed her arms, it pushed up her chest and it became apparent that she wasn't wearing anything under her shirt. That would teach him to show up unannounced at a woman's house. He really had to stop acting like it was 1940 where unmarried women seldom lived alone and they certainly didn't answer their front door in pajamas or without being fully dressed.

He held up a brown takeout bag sheepishly, "I come bearing a food offering."

"You brought me dinner?" She asked stunned.

He scratched the back of his neck as he answered, "It's a little early for dinner, but I figured you probably hadn't eaten yet and there's never a bad time for soup and sandwiches."

Hermione stepped to the side and opened her door wider, "Please come in. To be honest I haven't even eaten lunch. I had no idea it was anywhere close to dinner yet."

Steve scowled at the information that she hadn't eaten yet. It would do her no good to skip meals right now with how Fury had made her health sound. Fortunately, Hermione couldn't see his displeased countenance since he wasn't facing her. He would make an effort to show up near mealtimes more often.

Steve glanced around at her bare apartment in bewilderment. He had seen bachelor pads that were more furnished than this. There was only a chair and a coffee table in her living room, no artwork or photos up on the walls, no television, radio, or computer. If fact, he was pretty sure his old run-down apartment in Brooklyn with Bucky had been furnished with more personality than was currently on display despite how poor they had been or how infrequently they had been home. They had had little knick-knacks stashed around, throw blankets on the worn-out couch, a table that was always covered with his art supplies or Bucky's records. His heart physically ached to have those days with Bucky back. He shook his head to dispel the memories, it would do no good to remember those things right now. He was here for Hermione, not to get lost in old bittersweet memories.

The messy-haired woman gestured into her living room. "Please take the chair. I haven't gone furniture or appliance shopping yet. I'll grab the matching chair from my room and change while I'm at it. I wasn't expecting company, so I'm a little under dressed," she confessed with a light chuckle.

He made a shoo-ing motion with his free hand. "Go ahead. I'm the one who stopped by without calling first," he said. He did wonder why she hadn't bought any furniture or decorations for her living space. It bothered him that she was seemingly alone and that when she came home exhausted from work there was no warm, inviting place for her to relax in, just cold and impersonal white apartment walls.

"Alright. Give me five minutes and I'll be back out," she called as she marched down to the room at the end of the hall. She wished she felt comfortable enough to take a shower, because she absolutely needed one, she could feel the grease built up in her hair and the layer of filth on her skin. However, no matter how nice Steve seemed she couldn't let her guard down enough to be that vulnerable. If it were Harry it would be fine, but not only had Harry been her only constant for the last year, but he also wasn't a hulking mass of pure muscle that she was half sure could snap her like a twig if he was so inclined. The flimsy apartment door with its cheap tiny lock on her bathroom would be no match for the kind of strength she was sure Steve could employ with an easy flex of his muscles.

Hermione closed her bedroom door and collapsed against it with a weary sigh. That had been too close for her comfort. She pulled out her wand from her pocket and flicked it without a word. An identical chair to the one in her living room popped into existence. She turned the lock behind her and pushed off the door. Hermione shivered as she traced the glowing wand tip up her arm, leaving behind a white shimmering mist that settled over her scar and hid the ugly letters from view, though when the light hit it just right it was apparent that something was different about the skin there.

Hermione frowned. If she had been in possession of her vine wood wand, Hermione was certain the glamour charm would have settled better for a more seamless look, but since she had never properly won this wand's allegiance, it resisted covering its former mistress's handiwork. The wand also still felt wrong and she never liked casting on herself with it, because the magic it produced felt foul. She made a mental note to stop by a wandmaker's shop soon. She would have to make the shopping trip in disguise, which could be a hassle, but it was just too dangerous to be out on her own in a new country with a wand that wasn't matched to her or won over completely by her. A wand was a witch's equalizer and being without a proper one was just asking for trouble.

She dug through the clothes she had yet to put away and threw on a pair of jeans and a blouse. She ran her hands over her hair and attempted to get it under control, but if anything, she knew she was making the curls frizzier and more unmanageable looking. She huffed and pulled out the hair elastic that was barely keeping her hair restrained. She casted a smoothing spell at her unruly hair and watched in the mirror as it settled her curls into a defined pattern. She nodded at herself in the mirror, she would pay for it later in double the unkemptness, but at least right now her hair didn't look like she had stuck a metal fork in an electrical outlet.

She unlocked her bedroom door and toted the conjured chair back to the living room with her. She placed the chair down across from her guest and moved all her files and supplies to one end of her temporary, also conjured, coffee table. She was going to have to consider permanently keeping all her magic and work-related materials in her room if people were going to drop by her apartment so often.

"Can I get you anything to drink? I have water, maybe milk, or I could put on a pot of tea," Hermione asked with a grimace. She had gone grocery shopping, but she had only picked up the absolute basics for a few days. She meant to go back to the store today, but she had gotten entirely too caught up in her research this morning. After dinner, she would make an honest effort to go shopping both for more groceries and some furniture. She would still have time before the store closed if she wasn't too particular picking out the style. She wasn't sure she could muster up enough care to look at anything outside the functionality of the pieces anyway, so she was sure she would be able to find what she needed in a reasonable amount of time.

He waved her concern off as he said, "Water is fine. Thank you and don't worry about it, like I said I know I sprung this on you unexpectedly."

"Still I've been meaning to go grocery shopping, but I just always seem to forget about it," She said with a shrug as gathered two glasses of water for her and her guest.

"So, what brings you by my part of town?" Hermione asked in the lull of conversation.

His eyes flickered away from hers as he answered, "I was craving a sandwich and one of my favorite places is just down the block from here. I figured since I was in the neighborhood and I hadn't seen you in a few days I would drop by." He paid an inordinate amount of attention to removing the food from the disposable sack it had come in. He placed some sort of wrap and a cup of warm soup in front of her.

A thoughtful look crossed her face. If she didn't know any better and she really didn't- she would say that the real reason Steve had come was to check up on her. She had no doubt that he had known about the sandwich shop down the road, but she wasn't buying that he had driven from wherever he lived to just get a sandwich and soup. Getting a better glance at the sandwich, it appeared to be chicken, Hermione suddenly felt as if she knew what was going on. Both items were, suspiciously, items on the very short list of foods that she could eat right now. The very same list she had received from Phil and the nutritionist just yesterday in fact.

She supposed she ought to be grateful even if the gesture was a little highhanded. This was the fastest she'd ever made friends or at least allies, in a new environment. It had taken a troll to make friends at Hogwarts. She slumped in her seat and ripped off the band aid. "It's alright that you know. I all but told you last week about my food situation and if you sought more information out about me then I'm not upset. I appreciate that you brought food I could actually eat. Next time though I'll pick up the tab for your meal so that we'll be even. Otherwise I'm going to have to start calling you my hero," she said with a teasing smile and a wink.

Hermione nearly laughed at the flabbergasted look on his face. He clearly hadn't thought he would be discovered that easily. It was such a Gryffindor thing to do though that she couldn't be mad. It was completely unsubtle of him. Besides, it felt nice, that this man who she had only known for a few weeks, cared enough to bring her food and check-in on her when he knew something was wrong.

Steve felt his heart stop for a second before he decided that Hermione wasn't implying anything about his alter ego, Captain America, with her "hero" comment, she was just playing around and teasing him. Steve sighed and ran a hand through his short blond hair. He never was good at being subtle, he figured it would be better to just admit to it. "You aren't wrong about the reason I brought you food, but I'm afraid I can't let that stand. A gentleman always pays for the food," he said with a self-deprecating half-smile.

She grinned broadly at him. "Gentlemen don't show up unannounced and then stare at the mad-looking woman that answers the door."

"Touche," he said. The blush that he had thought he banished when she answered her door in dishabille washed up his neck and ears. He certainly hadn't been staring because he thought she was crazy looking, but he didn't think he should tell her that either.

Mercifully, Hermione changed the subject. "How long have you been working for SHIELD?" she asked as she began to eat the food that Steve had brought to her.

"Not very long, but I did some work with its predecessor awhile back," he tried to answer honestly. He leaned forward and ran his gaze over her searchingly trying to discover any clues that would indicate whether she was enhanced like him or not. There was nothing that he could visibly see, however he wasn't sure if it was because she was in poor health or if she just looked completely harmless normally. He itched to be able to train with her or watch her in action to verify if what Fury and Agent Romanoff suspected was true, but he would wait as patiently as he could, because he would never jeopardize her much needed recovery.

"How have you been holding up? I know when we first met in the park you were angry and frustrated. Has that gotten any better?" he asked kindly.

She crossed her arms and let out a slow breath, "Working has been a good distraction. It's let me focus on other things while I try to process things on my own time."

"Well reportedly, you've been getting knocked around quite a bit in training. That's enough to take someone's mind off anything," said Steve.

Hermione finished one of the halves of her sandwich and nodded. "Yeah, I don't seem to very good at hand to hand combat, but like I said, it's kept me from hyper focusing on anything too problematic. So, I still have all those feelings, but they aren't the only things I'm thinking of all the time."

"I know some of it is classified, but if you ever want to talk you have my number or I'm normally in the gym at SHIELD at least two to three times a week," he met her whiskey colored eyes and offered gently.

"Thanks, I will keep that in mind," she said softly. She wrapped up the second half of her sandwich for later and opened the plastic lid on the soup that Steve had brought her.

Steve continued, "If you don't want to talk about it, but you just need company or help with something else, you can call me for that too. I know you just left your entire life across the ocean and don't know very many people here, so don't do without help or company if you want it."

Hermione's eyes softened. He reminded her of Harry, in that he had a people saving complex. Here he was offering very open-ended help and company and she didn't think he was doing it because he was romantically interested in her or anything. He was just the type of person that would go out of his way to help someone in need.

"I probably won't be around SHIELD for a while after the day after tomorrow. I have an assignment where it probably wouldn't do for me to been seen around headquarters too often, but I'll have to take you up on that at some point if I'm ever going to pay you back for buying my meal this time," she teased lightly to break the serious mood.

Steve finished the last of his sandwich and water and then stood up to throw away his trash and put his cup in the sink. "Alright I'll see you around then or give me a call and we'll meet up elsewhere so we won't blow your cover. I'll head out now though so you can get back to whatever you were doing before I interrupted your day."

"You didn't interrupt much, but thank you for the food," said Hermione as she followed Steve out the door.

"It was no problem, Hermione. Goodbye," he said with a wave.

Hermione suppressed a shiver at the sound of her name in Steve's accent. It didn't sound like that when any of her friends from back home said her name. "Goodbye! I'll try not to be a stranger," she said as she closed the door to her apartment. She leaned against the closed door and put a hand to her forehead. She began composing a mental list of the things she needed to shop for tonight. She needed groceries, business clothes, and some basic furniture for her living room. Tomorrow she could stop by the wizarding shopping district to pick up a wand. It was beyond time for her to get a new one.


A/N Well I'm updating. It's been forever... again. It appears I'm just very bad at updating regularly. I do have a significant portion of the next part of the story written out, but I'm not sure where I'm going with some of it so I'm stuck and worried that what I have already written is boring or something. I seem to be more focused on internal struggles rather than action scenes. Oops?

As always, please let me know what you think by reviewing.

Stay safe and thanks for reading!

-BlushinRosie