Finding her seat, Tess immediately sat down and gripped her pamphlet as she waited for the play to begin. She knew that it was a bit sad to be alone, but to be honest, she knew that no one would appreciate it as much as herself. And she had no shame really.

She smiled brightly as she looked around sighing at the beauty at the chandeliers and the old Hollywood field.

Albus had been looking forward to coming to the theatre all week. It had been far too long since he'd come here to see a play. The play they were performing tonight was King Lear by Shakespeare. He'd read it, and though it was quite sad it was a very interesting read. The portrayal of the lead character's descent into madness was quite fascinating, and he was excited to see it performed by London's best.

This really was a beautiful old theatre, he noted. Sadly, not that many people were theatre enthusiasts these days. He knew that he would always love it. Turning to the person next to him, he saw her admiring the chandelier. "A real shame more people don't come here, don't you think?"

Tess jumped in surprise and turned towards the person to face them. She smiled automatically at the question. It seemed that whoever this person was, he seemed to enjoy the theatre like she did.

"It really is, considering it's one the of the best art forms that there is" she murmured softly.

It was true; most of their audience were much older than her, a whole older generation, and it seemed they were the only two in a handful of adults coming together.

"I'm assuming you come here often?"

Albus realized that he hadn't even said hi to the person after she jumped. He had to say that he was a bit of an awkward person. The arts was always something he had appreciated, and the theatre was definitely one of his favorite forms.

"I have to say that I quite agree with you there." he told her, returning the smile. Most people didn't understand how excellent the theatre was.

Most of the audience was quite a bit older than they were. The people their age tended to go to movie theaters more often. That was something he rarely did, he couldn't stand most actors.

"Not for a little while, but I do love coming here. Just started a job teaching history, so I've been a bit busier than usual." he said. "I'm Albus Fenwick by the way, it's nice to meet somebody who appreciates true art." He held out his hand to shake. Ever the history teacher, he wondered how in the world shaking hands got started as part of a greeting.

Tess took his hand and shook it with a grin. At the mention of him teaching her eyes brightened and thought of the people around her. Alec was teaching Occlumency, Parker was teaching Muggle Studies, Deva was teaching DADA, and Victoria was the counselor.

"Ah Hogwarts" she said smiling. "I have lots of friends there, so I am there all the time" she said laughing softly.

She realized she had forgot to introduce herself and immediately found herself wanting to fix that.

"Oh pardon me, I'm Tess Black" she said smiling. "I'm a healer"

Albus wondered why he hadn't seen her if she came often. Well, he did tend to hole up in the library at times, so he shouldn't be surprised. That library was easily his favorite place in the school. He enjoyed preparing for his history of magic classes. It was a bit nerdy, but he'd always had that ravenclaw tendency.

"I'm surprised I haven't bumped into you sometime. Though I do spend quite a bit of time in the library, so maybe it isn't surprising." he said, laughing a bit. "Hogwarts is a great place, a bit like a home to me."

Introductions had slipped both their minds, and he was glad they remedied that. This must be the best friend that Victoria mentioned.

"Ah, I've heard Victoria mention you before. She says you are a bookworm if I remember correctly." The world needed more book lovers.

Tess flushed and nodded; she had nothing to deny, after all she had been a bookworm for as long as she remembered. She wondered what Victoria had said to him, but gave it the benefit of the doubt, after all she wasn't all that interesting.

"Same, but maybe because I spend it either on the grounds or in the air flying" she said shrugging. "I haven't been to the library in ages, it was my haven when in school. But yes I'm a bookworm through and though."

Victoria had never really mentioned him, but to be fair she didn't mention anything about work.

For some reason him calling her a bookworm made her flush a bit. He wondered if she had been teased a bit in school because of it. People teased him a lot when he was in school. Sometimes that could make you self-conscious about a certain aspect of your personality.

"That is a good way to spend time at Hogwarts. There's this great clearing I found on the grounds, it's so beautiful and peaceful there." While in school he'd never seen it, but he had come across it one day walking around. "I was the same way, that library was the one place I felt comfortable. The librarian at that time was one of my better friends actually." he admitted, laughing a bit.

"So, what kind of healing do you do? Or are you just in a general care position at the moment?" Albus asked. Healers had to go through a lot of school, and it was a tough job.

Tess smiled politely at how he explained himself to be a bookworm. There were a few people that really were proud of being bookworms, she just wasn't sure about calling her self a proud bibliophile.

"Hm..yes Hogwarts is full of secrets" she replied with a wistful grin.

She remembered her youth, running around and finding the closets all around the school and having a bucket lists of things to find. They were all good times, and even the bad eventually worked themselves out.

At the mention of healing though, her whole face brightened. She took pride in her work, it was basically what was the most consistent thing in her life.

"Well right now I'm in the Pediatrics and Obstetrics. So I help young witches with giving birth and taking care of their children. I don't hold a position really, just the head of the birthing wing. "

Albus could tell that his talk of books was boring her a bit. Soon enough, the play would start and they couldn't talk, so he decided to change the subject.

"Oh yes, Hogwarts still has plenty of secrets that I've yet to uncover. Sometimes I go exploring, not paying attention to where I'm going and hoping I might turn up somewhere new. Every once in a while it even works." he said, smiling at the memory of the first time he came across the Room of Requirement. That was a fun day.

Tess definitely took pride in her job, that much was obvious. She loved it, and he was glad that she found a job she enjoyed. Not everybody did, it was definitely a plus.

"That's great Tess, sounds like a pretty busy position. You must like kids if you're working with them a lot. Have any of your own?" he asked her.

Tess flushed and laughed softly at the thought of having her own children. She was barely twenty-one and now she was dealing with people asking her if she had any children? She shook her head and looked at him amused.

"No sorry, much to early for that I have to say. For the moment my job is what matters." she replied with a grin. "

She often times found herself wondering what would it be like to teach, but being a professor wasn't for her. She had many qualities and patience was not one of them.

Albus smiled when she blushed and laughed at the question. Perhaps she was a bit young to be thinking about kids. He knew he wasn't anywhere close to starting a family. It takes time to find the right somebody, and you had to be in the right place.

"Haha, I guess it is a bit early. I know I'm not really close to having kids either." She seemed to love her work, and it probably took up most of her time. "Plus you have to actually find someone who you would want to have kids with. That's a tough thing to do." he said.

Tess wrinkled her nose at the thought. Oh Merlin he was right, the traditional sense of having a family and doing everything right. That just made her immediately think about the "ball and chain" that muggles called marriage. She never really took interest in that, while it sounded nice to others, to her it just seemed like a waste.

"Hm...maybe in like a decade it'll be on my mind" she said laughing. "It's definitely not in the cards anytime soon. What made you become a professor? Why that subject too?"

Albus thought that wrinkle of the nose must be a habit of hers when she was thinking of something. Everybody always had their own little quirks that they did, he always twiddled his thumbs when thinking about something. He really was looking forward to starting a family, but he wasn't ready quite yet either. It would be great when he could though.

"Yea, I'm actually looking forward to it. But not anytime soon for me either." he admitted, laughing with her. "Well, I've always just loved history. It can teach us so much, and it's fascinated me even when we had that boring old ghost teaching it." he told her. Most kids hated that subject when he was in school. "I've always liked kids too, so I figured why not teach them a subject I love."

Tess nodded and smiled at the thought of it. She never took that class, it wasn't really her cup of tea, but she had studied Muggle history while she was in medical school while she was trying to do a stint in muggle college. She quit after she found out she couldn't handle both at the same time.

"I loved children, and I had a moment when I thought I wanted to teach, I just figured that I didn't have the patience for it. And I had no idea what I would want to teach."

Albus was glad that he had bumped into Tess here at the theater. It was nice to have somebody to talk to, especially when you weren't expecting to. Teaching wasn't for everybody, but so far he had liked it. The kids hadn't been too much of a hassle most of the time, though one or two did get on his nerves at times. Now they were adjusting to the new students from Beauxbatons.

"Yeah, the kids are pretty good for the most part. I love those guys even though they drive me batty sometimes. Definitely takes more patience than you have sometimes." he admitted. "For some reason I feel like you'd be a good Care of Magical Creatures professor, not sure why. You just seem like you'd be good with animals." Albus shrugged.

Tess smiled at the compliment and shrugged. She remembered getting in trouble a lot for riding the flying horses instead of listening to the professors. She couldn't help it, she always had a love of animals, from magical to muggle. And even now, maybe he was right, it'd be a nice job to have.

"Well I love children, but I know that they can be a struggle, I already deal with them when they're sick" she said chuckling. "But you do have me there, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions and Occlumency were my favorite classes as a student"

Albus just thought that since she was nice and might be good with animals, he was surprised his instinct had been right. Normally when he made a guess like that he was way off. He'd always liked animals as well, CoMC had been one of his favorite classes. Though he did tend to get in trouble for not listening to the professor and playing around with the creatures.

"I don't envy you that, I mean I love kids, but I bet when they're sick they can be a pain sometimes. When I started teaching I wasn't sure I'd like it this much, turned out good for me." he told her, smiling. "Wow, I thought I'd be way off the mark, complete guess. You just seem nice, and I thought you might be good with animals. Shocked I was right." he said, laughing.