Hermione Granger walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and headed for her car. She could have just Apparated, but she had wanted to retain as much of a Muggle upbringing as possible so when she wasn't in a hurry she drove. Her pureblooded friend Ron thought she was crazy for wanting to use a Muggle device to get where she needed to go while Harry who'd had a Muggle upbringing understood better.
Hermione walked slowly deep in thought about a plan she had been contemplating for a long time. With her parents dead there was no reason for her to stick around Britain. She may have fought in a war but that didn't gain her many favors with the pure-bloods, not most of the ones with influence anyway. While the Weasleys were pure-bloods they didn't have any influence when it came to getting her the job she wanted.
She'd been thinking about moving to France where they weren't as bigoted and she could find herself a decent job in the Wizarding World. France might not be far enough away however, even though she spoke French. She supposed that there was always other countries much farther away from England, America or Australia for example. At least they spoke English, even if that was with an accent. She really wanted to move to another country where she could get a decent job but she couldn't abandon Harry, as he was basically her brother. Harry had simply lost so many people that he wanted her to stay in England, so they could see each other frequently.
She was sure that the pure-bloods in the Ministry, except for those she was friends with like Kingsley Shacklebolt or Arthur Weasley, a would be relieved if she was gone. The only thing stopping her from leaving England entirely was Harry who was basically her brother.
And while Ron was kind of a friend, they weren't as close as they once had been at Hogwarts. She was actually closer to Fred and George now than she was Ron and that was really saying something. Despite their love pranks they were still good guys and had defended her from the bullies more than once by pranking them into submission.
She might not approve of them pranking people, but they also never set out hurt anyone just embarrass them. Part of the problem with Ron was he refused to grow up and still acted just as immature as he had as an 11 year old and he was nearly 30. She on other hand, was 30 as she was nearly a year older then her two friends.
Fred and George had turned into quite the businessman and had stores in both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade and had started out with only 1000 Galleons thanks to Harry. The twins were well on their way to being millionaires, even though they were only a couple of years older than she was.
Hermione came out of her thoughts when someone cleared their throat and she looked up. "Sorry if I'm blocking the sidewalk," Hermione said. "I was just thinking and I guess I wasn't paying attention."
"You must've been deep in thought ma'am," said the man who looked around her age standing before her.
"I was," Hermione acknowledged. "I'm Hermione Granger."
"Aaron Dunin," the man introduced himself.
"Your accent isn't British, Mr. Dunin," Hermione told him, noticing the man didn't really have a particular accent, "so you must be a visitor to our country."
"I'm here on business, Miss Granger," Aaron said determined to get to know this lovely young lady and she was his mate. "It is Miss isn't it?"
"It is," Hermione acknowledged. "I've never been married, though I did come close to it at one time."
"As to your statement earlier, no, I'm not originally British, though I have visited before," Aaron said inwardly relieved to lean that this Hermione Granger wasn't married. Never had been married, which meant no possible future problems with an ex-husband.
Hermione tried not to blush as Aaron Dunin was a very handsome man and while she wouldn't say Ron was unhandsome, he was a boy not a man and acted accordingly.
Aaron was dark-haired and dark eyed And also fairly tall over 6 feet. He had broad shoulders and lips that looked very kissable. Hermione batted that last thought away, as she wasn't interested in a relationship, especially not with a stranger.
"While it's nice talking to you Mr. Dunin, I really need to be getting home," Hermione told the man politely. "I have a lot to do."
Hermione just let the man assume that she had a lot of chores she needed to get done, but really, she was in the middle of a research project. She found herself dissatisfied however, with just doing research for different magical subjects.
As for Aaron he noticed the bag that his mate was carrying that said Flourish and Blotts and inside looked like books so that meant Flourish and Blotts must be a bookstore, one he had never heard of. It was certainly an appropriate name for a bookshop in any case.
The books inside the bag looked like hardbacks so he couldn't really distinguish the covers from where he was standing.
"So Miss Granger how about a cup of coffee or tea if you prefer since I know you British love your tea," Aaron offered.
"Really, I'm the one that should be offering to buy you a drink since I'm the one that was so distracted," Hermione offered. "Really, it's not necessary to buy me anything to drink."
"I want to. It's hardly a hardship to be in the company of a gorgeous woman. I thought we could continue our conversation somewhere more private and get off the sidewalk."
Hermione seriously thought about it, even if she knew going with a stranger was dangerous, as he could be a kidnapper or a serial killer. On the other hand, Aaron Dunin seemed harmless. She was very well aware that he could not be as harmless as he appeared, as a lot of people could two-faced. Unlike so many people she was not unaware of the evil in the world considering she had fought in a war. While she liked to believe the best in people that didn't mean she wouldn't be on her guard until she got to know Aaron Dunin better. He could very well be working for one of her many enemies, even if he appeared to be a Muggle. His accent certainly wasn't British. Also, he appeared to be about the same age she was she assumed he would've gone to Hogwarts if he had any magical blood. He could've gone to another school though, as Hogwarts wasn't the only school in the world and he wasn't British or Scottish or Irish and while Hogwarts took exchange students Aaron Dunin hadn't been one of them, as she would have remembered.
"Alright," Hermione finally decided never having been called gorgeous before, not with her bushy brown hair and buck teeth when she had been much younger.
Her teeth had since been fixed by Madam Pomfrey and her hair tamed with a magical potion that she brewed herself. Ron had never called her gorgeous or even pretty, even if it seemed to be expected that they get married when they graduated Hogwarts. Ron had expected a lot of things and yet he had never once complimented her at all. Ron certainly didn't know how to win a girl.
Hermione had nixed that idea in the bud. She could never put up with Ron's laziness or lack of manners. It wasn't that he was unintelligent just that he didn't use it on anything except Quidditch or wizard's chess. His grades had been abysmal and if Hermione hadn't done most of his homework for him he would've failed most of his classes due to pure laziness, not because he was stupid.
"Great!" Aaron said trying to contain his happiness, as he didn't want to scare Hermione off. Hermione was a rather unusual name but he knew it came from Shakespeare.
"The closest tea shop is about a block from here," Hermione said, "and it's one I go to fairly often. They have a great selection of teas and also coffee."
"Sounds ideal," Aaron said and Hermione led the way to a shop she knew well.
"Here we are," Hermione said, as she opened the door to the cozy tea shop that she's spent a lot of her time in when she wanted to get out of the house. Wizarding Britain wasn't exactly known for its restaurants other then places like the Leaky Cauldron, so Hermione often came here to have tea usually with some sort of pastry. This was her way to forget the Wizarding World for awhile, to let off steam get out of the house. She spent a lot of time at the Burrow eating one of Molly Weasley's meals.
Molly might've been disappointed that she hadn't gotten together with Ron, but that didn't mean she wasn't welcome, even if the Weasley matron was opinionated.
She and Ron might not have married, but that didn't mean she wasn't friends with Ginny or Fred and George.
"Hermione!" the lady behind the counter greeted, "Your usual?"
"That would be fine Adela," Hermione said.
"I didn't think we'd be seeing you today," Adela said. "You usually come in earlier."
"I was in the area. Thought I'd stop in for a spot of tea," Hermione said noncommittally.
"What can I get you sir?" Adela asked Aaron.
Aaron who had been looking over the menu gave his Adela his order and paid for both himself and Hermione. Hermione had sat at her usual table while Aaron was paying and he soon joined her.

~~~Aaron and Hermione~~~